


Batman: War of the worlds

by Athma24



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Justice League - All Media Types, Wonder Woman - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Eventual Romance, F/M, First Kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 62,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24002500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athma24/pseuds/Athma24
Summary: A What if? Scenario. Batman is a 25 years old millennial.His adventures in Gotham leads him to a new challenge, a new threat emerges to humanity, an apocalypse. Batman is now up against new Gods. A #Wonderbat story where Batman joins the Justice league, meets the woman of his dream and fights the Gods from other dimensions. Rating might change for the later chapters. Cheers!
Relationships: Diana (Wonder Woman)/Bruce Wayne
Comments: 2
Kudos: 82





	1. Welcome to the league

**Author's Note:**

> Author notes : A What if? Scenario. Batman is a 25 years old millennial. Taking the liberty, this fanfiction is an attempt to re-invent the Legend of Batman. Story starts from the Second year of his adventure, where his name alone strikes terror in mind of petty crooks, criminals and psychopaths. His adventures in Gotham leads him to a new challenge, a new threat emerges to humanity, an apocalypse. Batman is now up against new Gods. The very Idea of Man standing against God is what triggered me to write this story. A #Wonderbat story where Batman joins the Justice league, meets the woman of his dream and fights the Gods from other dimensions. This story will follow the journey of Bruce Wayne from Gotham to New Genesis. As a first time Author, I am trying to write this fiction as epic, science fiction filled with action, romance and drama. Please note, I am not a native English speaker. English is only my third language. I felt some struggle in wordings and sentence forming. I am slowly getting there, so Initial part of the fiction might be too flat to read. Let's see how it goes… and Thanks.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

# Chapter 1

## Welcome to the league

"Batman has once again turned down the offer from Justice league. The Masked vigilante of Gotham city has Ghosted this time The Martian Manhunter, the Meta division head and one of the founder members of Justice league…." read 75 Inch LED inside the Bar at Gotham Downtown Hall. Opposite to the bar, the themed Casino Hall is packed with millionaires and gamblers in their expensive suits and glossy gowns with glasses of Gin & tonic, playing keen on standard craps tables. The last four are in a game, the short-haired lady in Jewel neck black thick satin short cocktail dress mocked,"Is it just me or this new Bat-guy is just another masked freak". Though she looks spectacular, the young guy standing opposite to her in black Kiton tuxedo has his eyes and ears on the game. The old Austrian throws his dice, it bounces and stops as 7. It puts a cheeky grin on the young guy's face. The lady pitched her question again intended,"I asked you Mr..." and the young guy looked her sharp and replied in a base manly voice "Bruce Wayne" followed by a brighter smile. The lady received with a silly smirk "I know ." Like, who doesn't know 'The prince of Gotham' a notorious billionaire, playboy and philanthropist. This renowned capitalist and industrialist, recently overthrew his father's successors and few board members to take over as CEO of Wayne Enterprise on the mark of his 25th Birthday. The News has been hot for some time. The old peers have sued him for Billion dollars. As she thought she asked "I wonder why bother so much for 1500 dollars, the whole casino is yours if you want it". Bruce subtly enjoying her remark without showing it, countered back looking straight in her green eyes "…..thrill". The Shooter passes the dice to Bruce, he picks two, holds them tight in his palm and adds,"I love to play this game called luck or duck"and he rolls. The dice bounces and each one stops at a feat distance showing 6 and 5. The Pass line wins and Don't pass line losses. The shooter and dealers start re-arranges the board. Others started to move with discontented reactions. The lady waits for him to notice, as he faces her, she utters silkily "Oops!" with pouty lips and mocks him savagely "I can buy you a drink" displaying a kittenish charm. Bruce smiled easily, he stepped off and walked towards her buttoning his coat. She offered her hand, Bruce bends his tall figure to grab her hand. A woody fragrance laced with jasmine and magnolia oil smelt sweet as he softly kissed her hand. Bruce buzzed her with his blue eyes "Are you on Tinder Ms.?" She likes his forward approach "Selina Kyle" and adds "No. Dating apps don't work that way" teasing him with her full smile. Bruce covered his embarrassment with a wide grin again and she directed her other hand towards the bar. Same time Bruce got incoming from his micro ear receiver. Alfred at the other end "You are doing good, master Bruce. We have time". Bruce joins her as they walk past the Burgundy atmosphere of the casino to a cozy-lighted elite bar. On their way Alfred updates him "The Pods are stationed in the basement. Stealth mode is initiated. Sir, check if you are able to control the traffic from your smartphone, once you get to the terrace."

Reaching the bar, Bruce orders "Five star" his regular and turns towards Selina "and for you Ms." Selina asked the bartender to make it two. They both seated in the comfort of a bar cushion stool as the LED telecast the recent adventure of the Justice league in India. Superman and Flash have saved the Indian Foreign Minister Nath from attempted terror by Intergang. The Cape Crusader jumped before the missile launched towards the congressmen. Flash traced and captured the other members of the gang who seeked shelter in thick bengal forest. The News pressed that "this Incident has confirmed the spread of Intergang across Asia and Europe - an organized crime group with powerful weapons who can seriously challenge the world's most powerful nations." Selina turned towards Bruce, who literally ignored the News running and found himself busy with his smartphone. She eyed his attention by leaning forward as his eyes fell unintentionally on her cleavage. Bruce put his phone back, briefed "Sorry, I was checking stocks" smiling sheepishly. Selina uttered "oh!", knowing that she won back his full attention. The Bartender placed their drinks and Bruce stopped to tell him "bring down the volume, please" pointing at the LED. He irked "This is supposed to be a private bar, not a city announcement hall". Selina bid as the bartender left "You are clearly not a fan of the league, aren't you?". Bruce nodded his head with a goofy reaction taking his drink "Only if you join them, you will look great in those tight spandex" and winked. Selina chuckled as she took the drink. With a coy smile playing on her lips "It is unusual for a young handsome businessman like you to be in a casino" and "Are you in hunt, ?". Bruce, not showing the tensity, questioned her with his eyes mimicking what she meant. Selina whispered "Chick hunt Mr. Wayne, as they say..are you in hunt today?". Bruce outfoxes her "Well, any guess who is lucky today?" in a deep flirty tone. Trying hard not to blush, Selina raises her glass "Cheers". That small playful movement gave her enough space to cross legs, flashing them to Bruce. Bruce didn't shy away to take a look. He checked her in swift tracing from her black stiletto heels to her endless legs through the slit of her sundress. Smiling back at her face confidently, he raises his glass in return. Selina arched her eyebrow after taking the first sip from the expensive drink. She licked her lips, relishing the taste with "hmmm" sound and expression. Bruce enjoyed that look on her face. Selina, opening up more "So, what do you do for fun Mr. Bruce?". Bruce covers up "Anything that is fun" taking the second sip, thinking of a better answer "Sports, Adventure. Adventure sports!" he declared. Selina leaned back as she was interested to know more "What kind of adventures?" relaxing her shoulders relishing another sip of drink. Bruce trying not to stare at her exposed neck "Bumper ride...Cave Diving..Scuba". As he said one by one, Selina leaned forward, making it hard for Bruce, as her breast heaved forward. She said huskily "You must be very strong ". Her exposed legs touched his. A brief silence followed that, Bruce felt too close to her face, the feminine smell filled his nostrils. Selina broke the silence "You…" but Bruce got diverted to the incoming in his receiver.

Alfred Interrupted again, "Sorry sir, the satellite shows the radiation spiked to a hazardous level. They are in move. I am calling you at 5". As planned, Bruce receives the call, pretends to listen for 5 seconds and replies "I will be there soon" in a gripping tone. He turns towards Selina "I am sorry, miss Kyle. I'll be leaving" tossed some dollars on the Bar table and left. Selina left hanging wonders what just happened. Bruce gets to the elevator and smiles at the lift-man telling ''16, Thank you". The elevator ascended. Alfred at the other end informed him "I activated the Bat for you. The Radiation is stalled in one place. Maybe they are waiting for someone to join." Bruce checks his smartwatch and Alfred updates the scenario further "8 more floors from your room to the terrace, the fire stairs are clear. The targets are confirmed to halt at lobby 17 in Ducard Building. Setting the Lakeview point as ground zero and the Ducard building will be at 45 degree." Bruce gets down at floor 16, gets to his room. He opens the back window and steps out, walking along the narrow roof, he reaches the fire stairs. He taps on his watch and commands "Voice activation". The watch glows midnight blue and interface changes with response "Activated". Bruce "Initiate the Geo-surveillance". Alfred agreed "Right to you, sir". A small drone shaped as Bat showed up in the sky, Bruce commands "Alfred feed me the visuals". Bruce takes out his smartphone and places it in front of his smartwatch tethering each other. The Phone feeds the visual of the drone's coverage and with the small ministration on the screen, the drone aviates imitating the movements of bats. The Bat identifies the Ducard Building, scans it from outside and warns of hazardous radiation. Bruce flies The Bat close to the 17th floor, activating X-ray vision. Bat can see 5 men waiting with the bag. Threat level is low. But, that bag is identified as the source of radiation. Bat's vision zooms in to further analysis, spots the radioactive elements enclosed in a long cylindrical capsule and there are multiples of them. Reading the feed, Bruce reports Alfred "Package located". Alfred pleased "Did you find who they are doing business with Sir?". Bruce directs the Bat to the service elevator which is still crossing the 5th floor, X-ray vision shows 6 armed men and 8 feat Muscular man in the middle. The middle figure has a mask on his face and the wires from the mask stretch back to his spine transferring liquid back and forth. Threat level is fatal. Bruce identifies "Bane!". Bane is highly devious and a superb strategist and tactician. Bane requires a specialized tank to help control the amount of Venom which he injects into his body. Using this Venom, Bane enhances his physical abilities, including his strength and healing process, to meta-human levels. Alfred Spooked as he heard the name 'Bane'. Alfred under irritation "What that steroid manic has to do with expelled scientists from Luthor corps.?"

Bruce commands his watch "Suit-up" and he replies to Alfred "Somebody means business by hiring Bane". He walked towards the Edge of the terrace, the watch glows midnight-blue. Bruce shreds his kiton suit, the Bat costume he wore inside is still in the activation process. The Midnight blue laser passed on the edges of his Exo-suit. The Bat flew back to him, on it's way making some modification and finally reaching the helmet like structure. By the time Bruce is armed in a Bat-suit till his neck, the Bat reaches him as his helmet. He connects the helmet and completes his nano powered Exo-suit. The Watch signals him "Bat-suit complete". Standing over the edge, he stretches his arms wide and jumps down. The Jet-wing pops up under the side of his arms as he descends free fall and a propeller forms in the heels. He swift upwards against the wind, activated the booster and launched him towards Ducard Building. Bane's elevator reached the 17th floor of Ducard Building, an unused warehouse. The Elevator opens with the 'ding' sound. Bane came out with a monstrous growl "Lex Luthor says-Hello" and the armed Gang opened fire on the Scientists. In a fraction of second, 4 Scientists were on the floor dipped in their own blood. Bane steps out of the elevator and gets shot in the skull. But his metal helmet guards him. The Gang shoots the last scientist who has the shotgun, hitting his arm, as he quickly jumps, escaping behind the cargo pile. The Gang rushes behind but Bane stops them from further chasing and says, "He wants to fight me, Let him." and walks alone inside. The Cargo dump stretches till the end of the room. Bane follows the blood dripped on the floor, stops at where it ends. He shoves his arm inside a box pile, pulls the last Scientist outside by choking his neck. Bane holds him in his eye-level and feeds on the fear he sees "Gentlemen, it was nice doing business with you" and breaks his neck with a tight last Scientist falls on the floor lifeless. The Gang checks the bag of the scientists. They confirm 6 medic bags are full of capsules which are filled with the Yellow liquid metal. The main guy of the Gang commands Bane "Let's go, we got it". Bane, mocking at his authority tone, points him to the elevator button which is now broken from outside. Bane enjoys the paradoxical look on the main guy and savagely greets "Welcome to Gotham!". The Gang forms a circle around the bags and loads their guns ready. Bane exclaims in the air "Come out, don't be shy". The main guy queried "Is he already here, now?". Bane loads his specialized gun and fires on the roof and replies "A Course! He is" A deep hole is formed in the roof by the advanced bullet. Bane growls again,"You like it? brought it for you".

A canister falls in the middle of the circle. The Gang turns to the sound, the main guy warns "It is a lachrymator, cover yourself." Green Gas expels from the canister, The Gang stepped back covering their nose. Batman comes by swing, takes one biggest guy in the Gang out by landing on his chest and grabs him away. The gang opens fire in panic. All they saw was a Black creature grasping the biggest guy in their gang like an eagle. Bane advises the main guy "You can't leave with that, without taking him down". The main guy orders his Gang "Divide and scout, Kill him on sight" The Gang splits and spreads around the warehouse. The main guy takes out the tiger claws from his pocket and plugs it in his knuckle. Two of them reached the side end and splitted in opposite directions with their guns. The guy on the right feels a presence in the middle, he runs and shoots in that direction. The Gun is so powerful, it tears open even the thick aluminium foils and hard wooden boxes are shattered into pieces. He holds fire and examines the pile for any moment. Nothing, except some rats feeding on cardboard. Relaxed and he turns back to see a Black figure, Batman grabs his gun and blocks his face. Hearing one of them scream, the second guy rushes and finds his colleague on the floor beaten to pulp. He starts to shoot anything at his sight. Batman jumped from the side and grabbed his hips and threw him at the wall. The Guy bounced back from the impact and Batman pushed his gun away, firing at the wall making sound as it directed others. Batman choked his neck and bashed his back head repeatedly as hard as he could in the cement wall at fast motion. The Guy bleeds and slips to the floor. The main guy saw his apprentice from the rest of his Gang fired around in madness. He instructs him to hold the fire. Bane is used to these theatrics. Bane in the front of the warehouse thought to himself at least he can take two or three bags out as everyone else seems to be occupied. He can wait with the bags, he knows Batman will come for the capsules - after all he is here for that.

The Apprentice and the main guy skimmed in the dark area of the warehouse. The Main guy exclaimed in the dark "I know you, I've heard about. We know you are just a man underneath. A Man like me". He can only hear water droplets in return. The Main guy continued, "Allow me introduce myself". His Voice echoed. Bane lifted 4 bags in his shoulder and breaks the door to the staircase. Batman hearing that sound came from the hideout and followed Bane. Just before the door, a deadly kick landed on his face and he was thrown several feats away from the Exit door. Batman picks himself up and looks at the 2 Gang members. One seems fit and strong, the skinny one is already shaking his leg in fear. The Apprentice loaded his gun in hypertension. The Main guy stops him and says, "I will take care of him. You help Bane carry the remaining bags to the terrace". The Apprentice gave an estranged look and picked up the remaining 2 bags. The Main guy blocked the way to the staircase by standing in front of it, as the apprentice walked past him and reached the door to the staircase. Batman launched himself in fury at the door but the main guy manoeuvred his combat skill by moving a sideway blocking Batman to move further by pulling his torso and used his tiger claw to cut his Exo-suit. The metal suit is pierced open and three claws cut the inner stomach to bleed. The main guy introduces himself to the bleeding Batman "I am Bronze Tiger" with a bow. Batman jumps back to his feat, locks his fist and throws himself on Bronze tiger. Bronze Tiger predicted his move and blocked it in ease. Both of them blocked each other's move but the fight favoured Bronze tiger, as Batman's cape got stuck in his claws, he rolled his fist around it and threw him away. Batman's head banged again on the floor, as Bronze Tiger says "I don't need those fancy guns to kill you". Batman got back in his feat, knuckled and cut his cape hanging behind. They again threw themselves on combat, Batman this time allowed Bronze Tiger to attack, taking the advantage Bronze Tiger moved closer to Batman who is just blocking Bronze tiger's punches from the side, making him open up a little. Batman finding the gap, broke his defence, punched Bronze Tiger right in his torso, without giving him any break to react, he punched back to back with unbelievable speed. It weakened Bronze Tiger's core, Batman blew one deadly punch in the neck with his knuckle and knocked him out with a heavy kick to his jaw. Bronze Tiger spits out blood as he falls to the floor. Batman's mechanical voice answered him savagely "You should have used those guns" and he rushed to the terrace.

Bane and the apprentice waved at the open sky. The Chopper to escort was near them looking for the signal. Batman charges Bane at full speed, driving his shoulders through Bane's ribs. This action carries Bane several feet from the floor and drops him hard by his head. The Apprentice opens fire on Batman, for which he jumped and hid behind bane. The bullet strikes the bane on his back and retracts the incoming chopper away. The Apprentice moves to find a better position to take a shot but Batman reacts quickly by throwing a Batarang to his gun, thus disabling it. Bane catches Batman from behind, locks him, picks him in the air and starts to crush him using his muscle power. Batman struggled to release his arms from the lock and dashed his elbow hard on Bane's bald head. This agitated Bane as he squashed Batman more intensely. Batman dashed both elbows hard back to back on the same spot of his skull. Bane disrupted by this, lifts Batman over his head, to break him into two pieces. This allowed Batman to release his legs, he locked them tightly over Bane's neck and held one arm behind the masked head and used the other to punch hard and break his mask. Bane screamed in pain. Batman slipped away from his grip and looked back to see Bronze Tiger dashing with his tiger claw. Bronze Tiger swinged one blow on Batman's face in full force. Batman flies and drops to the floor, his head starts to ring. Batman is bleeding underneath and his mask vision is broken, it starts to glitch. Batman commands "Disable Bat-vision". The lens stopped to glitch, as he saw both Bane and Bronze tiger tag- teamed.

Batman can also hear the chopper sound nearing again. He slowly gets back on his legs. Bane pumps venom into his system and Bronze tiger poses an attacking posture. The Apprentice safeguarding the bags remains unmoved in terror. Batman takes a Batarang and flips it behind him, striking the approaching chopper and messing with its navigation. Shocked to see the chopper going down, Bane and Bronze tiger jumped onto Batman. He leaped backwards escaping their initial attack but got blown away by their next. Bronze Tiger rolled on his back and punched his tiger claw in Batman's lower stomach. Even in that pain, he managed to bend, when Bane swinged his arm. He blocked Bronze tiger with his knee, climbed his shoulder with the other. He kicked the invading Bane on his face with his shoes activating the spikes mode. Bane got marks on his face and raised his head to look at Batman throwing Bronze Tiger at his face. Bronze Tiger bumped into Bane's face. Bronze tiger who got least hit, gets up to be chucked again by Batman, this time by knee on the jaw, way more powerful than before. Bronze tiger rendered unconscious as his molar flew out from his mouth. The Apprentice looked at the scene with his jaw wide open. Exhaust Bane pumps his venom and launches him furiously at Batman. Batman rolled to his back, using his legs he pushed away the Bane over his head. Bane bangs the floor with his head. Batman cuts the wire from his poison tanks with Batarang, before he gets up. Recovered Bronze Tiger covers Batman's way in the front. Mad Bane covers his way in the back. They badly want to end this game. They screamed and ran towards him at full speed. Batman crossed his arms, textures in the glove spiked out, moving to the side of Bane, he received Bane's body by his gloves. The spiky thing flattens on the surface and air-locked the exposed area. Using this Batman lifts Bane from his position, so high in the air and like a rainbow he moved him over his head and throws the heavy Bane on Bronze Tiger at the other end. The collision was powerful, the whole building shook from the impact. He throws the canister towards them on the floor, which expelled the green gas. Knowing that will take care of them, he turns to the Apprentice. Batman shoots the grappling gun that traps the apprentice's leg and drags it towards him. He hung the apprentice upside down and growled in his mechanical voice "Who hired you and Bane?" The Apprentice paralysed with fear cries "Let me go." Batman losing the grip "I won't ask again, don't get your brain splashed for nothing. What is that thing in the bag? Who you guys are working for?". The Apprentice nervously laughed "Brain? You said Brain ? our superior anatomy doesn't need a fluffy organ like brain to function. What am I a filthy human like you? I am an Elite in Apokolips. I answer only Gods" He turns and reveals his true self to Batman. Horrified by his appearance Batman loses his grip unintentionally again. The Thing cuts the wire midway, falling freely in the air, a dark hollow portal opens in front of it. It falls into it and Batman watches in bewilderment as the portal fades in the air.

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On the outskirts of Gotham city, Wayne Manor shines in the morning sun rays. Wayne Manor is a hot real estate with a proper blend of modernist architecture, built upon new and innovative technologies, particularly with use of glass, steel and reinforced concrete. Behind this vista there is the old Manor which is a veritable fortress, a pastiche of Gothic architecture combined with features of castellated architecture. Solar panels are installed in the Manor, providing environmentally-friendly electricity generation for the complex. It also includes a heliport for commercial helicopters. Wayne Manor's grounds include a surrounding gate around the perimeter with a larger automatic front gate at the main entrance. The grounds also include a large hill and there is also an underground river system as the backside of the manor is a huge lake stretching far towards the Eastern Mountain range. Some renewal works are going on the heritage building which carries the Wayne lineage where Bruce buried his parents. Bruce has accumulated 24 exotic vehicles that are specially customized to fit both of his characters, including a Mercedes McLaren SLR and 300SL Gullwing, a Porsche Carrera GT, an Alfa 8C Competizione Spider, a Ferrari 612 and 430 Scuderia, a Nissan GTR, an Eighties Aston V8 Vantage 6.3, a 1929 Blower Bentley, Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic and a Bugatti Veyron, a Porsche 997 GT3 RS, a 1930 Mercedes-Benz SSK "Count Trossi", a 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Mille Miglia, the last Lamborghini Diablo 6.0 off the line and a Lamborghini Reventón Roadster with other huge and popular auto names. His new vista consists of six floors and the ground floor is dedicated to parking these cars only with a private service centre attached. The Exterior of the old manor was essentially designed around views of trees in the front yard and on the back terrace. A 50 years old little figure emerges out from the old manor. Alfred with the breakfast tray in his hand is walking towards the Vista where Bruce sleeps. He hears "tweet" sound coming from the ground. He places the Breakfast tray in the Vista's door, and walks towards the direction he hears chirp. He finds Baby American Goldfinch flapping it's injured wings. He looks around and identifies the tree. Before one of their hunter dogs finds and harms it, Alfred decides to put it back on nest. He takes the beautiful small flesh of the baby bird and climbs the White Oak trees's vertical fork. He reaches the area where branches meet. He puts back the injured bird in its cup shaped nest. He looks at the 3 more baby birds warm in the nest and decides not to let the dogs roam around this side of the manor.

Alfred waits for Bruce's bedroom door to open, as it slides he walks in to find the Monarch Vi-Spring bed empty. Alfred looks around for Bruce. Bruce likes to keep his bedroom minimal. It gives him the view of the lake and mountain through the glass wall. Bedroom extends to a small grass covered portico, with two pearl white elegant Sunbath loungers. Apart from the bed, he has one pier designed lamp attached to wall falls facing his bed. A Bonsai tree, 11.1 speaker system with 55-inch curved smart tv. A yellow cushion lounge with leg-rester is the only furniture in the room followed by Areca Palm, some books and a Turkish Glass Water Jug. White is the most dominant colour contradicting his other nature. Alfred leaves the room to find Bruce in his next prominent place. He takes the tray and walks to the outdoor storage shed. He looks around casually before entering the shed. He enters and locks it from inside. Tapped his watch, the basement of the shed descends as an elevator. It stops in the basement. As Alfred steps out he sees computers in the Batcave are already running. The prototype for the new utility belt is rendering in a 3D printer. The Batpods and Tumblers stands are open. The Bat is updating the new patch software. The Grappling gun is fixed with new wire. All the suits are aligned in the Airlocked chamber. Alfred hears Bruce's presence in the training area. He walks past the crime lab, specialized laboratories, mechanized workshops, a vast library and medical bay to reach Bruce's personalized gym. The Batcave is located directly underneath Wayne Manor. Bruce used the space maximum. His Personalized gym and training area are the most private spot in the cave where Bruce likes to spend time alone without Alfred. Alfred finds Bruce running at a sprint. His Shirtless body showed the cuts he got from Bronze Tiger last night over his 8 pack abs and broad shoulder. Alfred placed the tray over the table and checked the mini-monitor, which shows Bruce is running continuously for 2 hours at the varied speed. His eyes fell on the Exo-suit he wore yesterday. Bruce sprints towards Alfred and stops at the tray to pick the Beet juice glass. Alfred pointed to the cut in Exo-suit queries " Good morning Sir, was it dogs again?" Bruce in-between the drinks nodded no and replied "Tiger, this time". Alfred "Tiger?" puzzled, Bruce elaborated "No. A man with tiger claws. His combat skills are as good as mine." saying taps his watch, a video feeds on the mini-screen before. Bronze Tiger fighting aggressively in the warehouse. Bruce pauses when his claws set is prominent on the screen, he informs Alfred "his claws set is made with the same metal as their guns and bullets. Strong and penetrates anything in contact." Watching him fight lethal, Alfred remembers "Where are the packages, Sir?" Bruce dumping the almonds "Outside the city. Their radiations are too high to have it here. Those Scientists had tumour cells in their body. It must be lab-made but they are not compatible with anything else in our world". Alfred "So, a new weapon sir?" with deep thinking Bruce replies "I don't know". Bruce walks to the boxing bag, puts on the glove and calls "Alfred, do me favour". Alfred puts the mini-screen down and looks at him. Bruce punching the cement bag "Fetch me an appointment at the Daily planet in Metropolis, will you?". Alfred's vacant look turns to a delightful smile as he agrees "With pleasure, master Bruce".

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"Welcome back!" The crowd continues to cheer with enhanced fake claps and laughter. "In today's Episode of Yours Truly we are having Mr. Bruce Wayne with us" excited Lois Lane waved her hands towards Bruce who was sitting on the opposite sofa. Bruce pretended to receive all the applause from the live crowd, 30 minutes into the show, he is already bored. "Let's continue this, you always seem to be in the spotlight, Bruce. But it is very rare for you to be on a Television set, So tell us how it feels to be here tonight with us in Daily planet studio?". Bruce smiling fake "Excited! to be honest. My Pops used to read 'The Daily Planet', the newspaper as it was, until recently. He used to read me those comic sections like Richie Rich, Zorro... like the first thing in the morning. Like us Waynes, I think Daily Planet too has a very healthy and sacred lineage. When Perry called and told me about the show. I asked him who is the host? He said 'Lois lane!'. I was like the famous crime scene reporter Lois Lane? The Pulitzer prize winner Lois lane? What? She is back and doing a talk show now? Come on you gotta be kidding me….and he told me 'come and watch for yourself'. So, here I am." finished with forced laughter and his arms wide open. Enhanced crowd cheers and claps. Lois heartfelt by his answer and the crowd's reaction to it. She started doing this talk show recently. Like everyone, she initially believed she can't do this casual late night talk show. But it worked for her. Her long collaboration with 'The Daily Planet' newspaper, helped the audience to identify her as the face of this new Television channel. Lois still writes in the Editor column every Wednesday under "Planet Today" infiltrating her views on everyday happenings ranging from the hike in crude oil to the impact of Global warming in Sri Lanka. Getting her cue to ask the question Lois replies "Thank you Bruce, that was so sweet of you." and changing her tone to more plastic she asked "We talked about your upbringings, your education and your bold decisions to step in as CEO at this young age, now let's talk about something more serious, in fact the most crucial thing, every American household depends on this million dollar question." Bruce looked dump, the suspense hit him for real. A Picture of him in La Pelosa pops on the big screen with his ex-flame and Supermodel Florence Ridley.

Crowd screamed hysterically. Bruce pretends to blush a little. Lois with a comical tone "You and Florence together?". Enhanced fake cheers and laughter. Bruce taking his time thought about Florence, his long itch. After a month, she dumped him all of a sudden. Nothing went wrong in between them. Florence couldn't help but identified herself as a Queer, like two weeks before her 19th birthday. Bruce got mad, to be true, a little heart-broken. His ego ignored her like she didn't exist after that. Getting back to the show, Bruce's honour and decency limited him to disclose her sexuality and the consequences followed in nationwide television. It has to come from her, he thought. He simply replied "No." Disappointed Crowd booed. He straightly replied "It didn't work out between us. We both were busy with our own stuff. I mean, I have a company to run. I think the odds of two people sticking together - taken that they are from two different fields or interests, it is likely very low. We had a great time together. We are still friends and I only wish the best for her." Crowd cheered again in a positive notion, followed by the enhanced fake claps and laughter. Lois waiting for the cue "Well, that's so beautiful, isn't it?" Crowd claps and whistles. Lois changing the cards in her hand "Let's talk about the other side of you? A side that not many of us are familiar with? A very secret side?" Bruce acted like he hooked to her words, nodding, as she built-up. He has no clue. Lois reads her card "Wayne Enterprise has donated half a billion dollars worth of Ballistics and Surveillance intelligence to Justice league's watchtower. Wayne's foundation has funded 75 millions dollars in cash for Africa's Child's Care and Education. 50 Million dollars in 'End hunger' NGO movement. 16 Dollars in AIDS and POLIO vaccine, another 10 million dollars in 'Mission Clean Water' at Indian peninsula. Also, very recently you have signed a deal with the Bill and Melinda foundation along with Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to provide free computers and cheap access to the internet in all developing nations across the world. That's a big deal. No one is blind to the information now." Enhanced fake Claps and cheers. Lois in a comforting tone "Tell us what all this philanthropic work means to you?" Bruce sounding humble and serious "I don't consider this a service to humanity or something. We are just giving back. We have a separate division for CSR in Wayne enterprise from my Grandfather's time. Science and technology fascinates me, the idea of unlimited access to information for everyone excites me. So, it is something I just wanted to do. Regarding the Justice league, Yes, they have become a crucial part. Our peace and security are in their hands. I agree. But, I really think the real heroes are not those in the cape. The Real heroes are the School teachers in Kenya, Congo. Doctors and health workers in Indonesia, China. Fire fighters, Biochemists, Cops, Farmers and Tax-payers. Small people who make big changes. Those who change the world for the better. Those who sacrifice the very little they have to serve humanity. Some don't need power to be a Superhero".

The Interview is soon over. Crowd is being pulled away from the studio, some tried to shake hands and take selfies with Bruce. Bruce and Lois are still on their seats. Lights are turned off, mics are removed. Floor is about to be cleaned. The Executive producers wanted one more shot of Bruce alone for the promo. So, they are waiting for the crowd to go and touch up a little makeup to roll again. Bruce looked at Lois and asked,"so, it is a boy ahh, Congratulations". Lois rejoices "Yes. It is hard to believe he is already nine months old. He has a big fist like his father, a strong boy". Bruce, affected by the way she talked about her son, steadied himself asking "Your husband is still working here in The Daily Planet?" Lois nodded,"Yep. He is fine with the Sports column. Though we manage to work in the same building, we rarely come across each other, unlike old times." Bruce teased her, "Awe, you are missing the office romance?" Lois winking her eyes,"It's okay. I go home to him" she involuntarily looked at her wedding ring.

Bruce next to his chopper on the rooftop of The Daily Planet takes the exotic view of the busy city. Metropolis unlike Gotham is a landlocked city. Humidity in the air is less, but double the population of Gotham making it more congested. Bruce's eyes fixed on the heavy clouds. He has loosen his stiffness, relaxed with his hands in his denim. He observed the Bird's pattern in the evening sky. As they flock in the same rhythm for 4 turns and change to a new one for the next three, finally extending both routes for the next two and once again, repeating the first rhythm but to a little left. "That was a good interview" he heard the voice coming from behind. He knew who it was. "Yep." he replied, still observing the birds without turning back. "What brings you to Metropolis?" the voice came in an annoyed tone. Bruce checks the time in his watch, it shows 5.40. He turns to see a stiff Mid-thirties man with broad shoulders, a tall frame and a glass. He is wearing the office suit and having a Starbucks coffee cup in his hand. Bruce pointing to the coffee cup "Is it for me?". The Guy refuses "No" and takes a sip. The Cup has a name written 'Clark K.' Bruce lingered for some moment and admitted "I came to see you". Clark with an uninterested dead tone asks "Why?"taking another sip from coffee. Bruce hesitates to address it, he tries to frame the answer more diplomatically "About something happened in Gotham last night?". Clark mocked him "Where were you then?". Bruce bit his words to confess "I was on the scene, but I couldn't do anything about it". Clark irked in rush "Listen Bruce, we can't prioritize one city over the world. That City is full of jerks. Taking on them is like taking on weeds. Besides Gotham has you and you have no respect for us. We actually decided not to give shit about Gotham." Bruce fumed "Excuse me, your wife just quoted 'I donated half a billion dollars worth of Ballistics and Surveillance intelligence' those are Gotham's money". Clark tired of his shit "Bullshit!" says straight to his face. Clark folds his hands and stands in front of Bruce He seethed "Those equipment have bugs in them. You spied on us, learned about us, so worse you know all our secret identities, analysed our weakness, you breached our securities by winning our faith. All our central operations depend on them now, and then, you denied our offer publicly. We begged you to join the league, you ghosted us and now you made us look like a joke on national television". Bruce wanders between agreeing and not-agreeing with the accusations. Some are deliberate. Bruce smoothes out "Let's say I have my own reasons and morals to act". 

Clark grows tired of the argument "Then why are you here Bruce?" Bruce bangs his fist on his legs. He opens up "I fought 6 men yesterday. 3 of them are just grade three gangsters, one is a steroid jerk pumping venom to his system, one is a black bruce lee with tiger claws and there is a sixth one, disguised as human all this time turns out be an disgusting alien, opens something like a cloud in the mid-air and jumps into it and disappeared." Clark looks offended, Bruce bit his tongue "No, I didn't mean you. You look cool. That thing in the air hung upside down said something Apokolips, Elite." Clark interrupted with deep thinking," So it can hang upside down!" Bruce jerked "No!" and with a slower pace trying to reply more clearly "I hung it upside down from the edge of the building". To Clark it sounded like a silly idea "Why?". Bruce fed-up "That's how I interrogate. See, the whole point is 'That thing' and his likes of him are planning something bigger and dangerous not only for Gotham but for all of Earth. I seized something, tons of highly radio-active liquid metal made by a group of expelled scientists from Luthor Corp." Clark raised his brows "Luthor Corp.?" Bruce loosened. At Last something tweaked interest in Clark. Bruce continues" Yes, those are lab-made. Something highly radio-active fell in our radar. We thought of plutonium, but it turns out to be 10 times more radioactive than that. We tracked them. The source of this unknown. Whatever they cooked, they tried to sell it." Clark in a serious tone,"Where are those scientists now?". Bruce nodded away, that is the hardest part "I found them dead. Seems like they got themselves in a bad-deal. Bane and others killed them on sight. I found tumour cells in their body. Whatever it is they made, it already killed them slowly in the process." Clark took some time to react. Bruce can see Clark striking a firm decision inside his head. Clark walked back to the stairs telling Bruce "We can help you with that, Ionize it and keep it ready. We will come for you to take you with us". Bruce couldn't grasp everything. He stammered "We?...Who?.. Where?" Clark opens the gate to exit, says "By the Bay" and leaves. Bruce knows what he means, the greatest detective after all.

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Javelin reached the troposphere, uncovered itself from stealth mode. The Guy piloting the Javelin is in Green costume, while Clark is in his Blue-Red Superman suit. Bruce is standing near the front dock watching the outer space unfold to him. Superman is resting in the second row seat. The Pilot guy looks at Bruce who is in Black t-shirt and blue denim standing way too close to the front mirror. Annoyed by his unprofessional presence, he charges Bruce "Hey! Sit back. Put on the seat belt, I'll do a vertical landing in the hangar. You might get hurt". Bruce said collected "It's okay, John. I do it everyday" Thunderstruck John when he heard it. He was outraged by the fact that some guy in Denim knew his name. He railed "Nobody here calls others by name. Call me Green Lantern". Bruce thought it is silly, he can't help but ask "Why? John Stewart is a cool name, dude" convincingly with mild laughter on his face. Green Lantern jumped from his seat "What?". Superman calmed him from behind.

Javelin landed on the Watchtower. Green lantern picked up the packages by his ring. As they walked along the hanger, the entry door asked for identification. Superman came front to identify, But Bruce kept walking telling him,"I got this". As he walked the door opened, like how it does for other members. Superman knew why and how. Wayne Enterprise made it. Not a surprise for him, but for Green Lantern. He started to judge Bruce for his actions. He initially disliked him a little for the swag but completely pissed off when he called the marine 'Dude' that completely pissed him off. He is still mad for that. Nobody calls the marine 'Dude'. As they entered the watchtower, Green Lantern directed the Packages to the R&D lab. Bruce looked around the watchtower. The Space station is orbiting near the Australian continent now. The Space station is an automated facility with minimal maintenance. Watch tower has two docks, First dock is where Bruce is now, has big computers giving live feed on the happenings on Earth. It shows the satellite images of Hotspots, tracking the wanted list, Disaster predictor and threat lists. The chairs before them are empty. A Big screen behind them shows the customized Plan of Actions, Priorities and shift list for Monitor duty. Today's shift for this time has the name 'Flash' and 'Green Lantern'. List is prepared 4 weeks in advance. 

Bruce walks to the aisle and looks at the endless Space through the glass windows. He checks at Superman who is writing To-Do lists in the digital chart, he asks "So, this is the view you guys wake up to?" pointing outer space. Superman with a mild smile denies "No, most of us are residents on Earth. So, we have home. I wake up with Lois next to me. Some stay here like Martian manhunter. They have their rooms in the second deck. Hey! Sorry. You want something to eat." Before he finishes the sentences, a shift in wind happens. A Guy with a Red suit appeared before Bruce. His Hands are full of hamburgers. He greets Bruce " Hi! Welcome to Watchtower, want some Crispy Chicken burgers with mayo?" Bruce identifies him as Flash, but where did he come from? Bruce nods humbly "No thanks!". Flash in order to extend their hospitality, points his finger back "Well, there is a kitchen back, you can make anything you want. Don't feel shy" with another shift he is in front of the computer with all the burgers on desk. Bruce amused, "Seems like you guys made a nice place out here". Superman smiles and agrees. Green Lantern shows up and informs them "The Package is safe. I checked the capsule and honestly, I didn't know, I was in space for a long time. Never seen this before. Definitely, not organic. This is kinda different." Bruce listens to Green Lantern in discontent; he knew he was telling the truth. Superman without losing hope "We will wait for Martian and Green Arrow, maybe they can figure out something." Green Lantern agrees and points to Bruce remembering him all of a sudden "Meantime, what to do with him?" Superman gets back to his board, utters "Try hiring him" and Green lantern giggles and in a savage tone asks "What do you want me to do, test his skill or something?" pointing the ring to Bruce's face. Bruce bothered a little. He can hear animated Flash cheering "A New Joinee". Bruce finds difficulty standing there. Superman informs Green Lantern "No test is needed. He is already qualified." without taking his eyes from the board. Green Lantern not getting it "What do you mean?" Superman takes his head from the board and looks at Green Lantern to introduces Bruce "He is Batman". Everything falls in place for Green Lantern. His eyes start to twinkle. "You mean the Batman who tricked us, Spied on us and insulted us publicly." Flash still sounding confused "Who Batman?" Bruce nervously chuckles, puts his arms in denim and bids a farewell "It's nice meeting you guys." Looking away from Green lantern's stare. He continued "I think it is time for me to leave, let me know when you guys figure out things. I am available on calls, but text me first." Superman stops him "Wait, Our Deputy Director just arrived to meet you". Bruce goes "Who?" Superman Explains "Our Deputy Director, the one who manages us. We need someone to run this place". Bruce questions "Okay, but why does your Deputy Director want to meet me?" Superman, tired of his paranoia, points to the conference room "You go and ask yourself".

Bruce enters the conference room, which is still dark. He can feel the presence of somebody. His Sharp vision sees somebody turning on the Air conditioner and sits at the first seat of the roundtable. It is evident that the person just landed and is preparing the room for a long boring meeting. Bruce tries to evade "Excuse me!" the room echoed. He continued "Superman told to meet you. I am sorry, I am kinda busy now. We can do this sometime later over a brunch in Toast". After a brief silence, A female voice replied "It's okay Bruce. We can do it now" Bruce shocked hearing the familiar voice. The lights are on. Bruce's jaw drops and his eyes wide pop out. Bruce goes "Selina Kyle".

"Have a seat, Bruce" said Selina in a diplomatic way. She is the same person Bruce met in the Casino last night. They flirted and Bruce left her abruptly for a mission. Bruce asked her in anguish "So, You were spying on me". Bruce takes the seat next to her. She rationally replied "No, we just want to know about the person who planted bugs in our computer and pulls our legs when we need him the most". Bruce stumbled to reply that. Selina mocked him, "What cat caught your tongue?". Bruce spread his lips to grin. He sounded odd "I never heard you in the Justice League?" Selina replies sane "I don't go to the field. I manage this space. Help the league from the background. Mostly resource allotment and power allocation. That is why I am so interested in your profile and very keen on having you in the league." Bruce is so exhausted from this now. Bruce explodes "I am not like those guys. I don't have any superpower. I am a human". Selina persists "that is why exactly you are so special. You, I see as the best in Man. Look at the things you have done in Gotham and you did all that alone. Imagine things you could do with a team?". Bruce interrupts "I have a team". Selina interrupts his interpretation "Not better than us". Selina shows him the tab she is holding "Look at these, these are crime statistics" pointing at the bars and figures "this is Gotham, before you showed up. And then this" sliding to the next page "After you. The Rate has drastically decreased." she zooms out "but only in Gotham. The crime syndicate starts to spread across. They moved to a new place, built a network, staged violence, prey on the weak, with lesser competition, thanks to you and your obsession with Gotham. They are now world class criminals with no one to stop. You are not blind to see this, but you just stuck with Gotham and Arkham like forever." Bruce dumbfounded. Selina waited for him to respond. 

Bruce trying to corroborate "I am not Superman, I can't fly from Arizona to Antarctica in 2 minutes. Gotham is the breeding ground of criminals. I cut them there, with everything I can. Every night I fight someone, each and every second..." Selina crumbles as she bangs her hand on the table. Selina stressed "The World is not just Gotham, Bruce. I am sorry, but this is the truth. You limit yourself to one city. When the whole world can shine better with your knowledge and skills. You are dealing with petty crooks and psychopaths and I am talking about saving the world. Let me read your profile. That may strike you who you really are." She opens his page in the Tab and starts reading it to him "Bruce Wayne aka Batman is the World's Greatest Detective. One of the greatest martial artists, he has peak human physical conditioning. Batman should be a Polymath, his knowledge and expertise in countless disciplines is nearly unparalleled by any other human being. He went missing for 7 years from active social life. It is believed that he has traveled the world during that time acquiring the skills needed to aid him in his endeavors as Batman. He has trained extensively in various different fighting styles, making him one of the best hand-to-hand fighters on the planet. He mastered alone a total of 127 different forms of martial arts from our observation. Superman, one of the founders and Leader of Justice league, describes Batman as "the most dangerous man on Earth". Batman seems strongly disciplined, and he has the ability to function under great physical pain and resist most forms of telepathy and mind control. He is also a master of disguise, multilingual, and an expert in espionage and interrogation techniques. Despite having the potential to harm his enemies, Batman's most defining characteristic is his strong commitment to justice and his reluctance to take a life. A peak human, a silent guardian, a watchful protector and a Dark Knight "Selina finished.

She moves to next screen. A graphic World map appears. She points it to him "Now, let's see where we need your expertise". The Map starts to colour itself in Red, Blue, Yellow and Grey at different areas. Selina points" See this, In Sri Lanka you can stop the child prostitution, end the mafia war in Yugoslavia. You can help catching the columbian Drug lords and the Money Laundering in Bangladesh also the Drug trafficking in Venezuela, Terrorism in Pakistan, Black Diamond in Sierra Leone..." She grieved as she spoke. She stopped reading the data, turned to Bruce and impelled him "Somewhere a Kid can go to school in peace, a single Mom can work safely, Fathers don't have to hide their kids in stinky bunkers. Children don't get to see their parents murdered before them. All you have to say is 'Yes'. Your reputation in Gotham, will strike a terror in the minds of other injustice seekers around the world." Bruce was sincerely moved by this. He was speechless. He looked at Selina, who opened his eyes to see the bigger picture. An awkward silence embraced the room. After a long hesitation, He slowly hold her hands. Selina pushed him to the point of decision by adding "You may not have inherent superpower. But, you said yourself 'Some don't need powers to be Superhero'. Now, Be the hero the world needs. Bruce I guess, now is the right time and you know that." Bruce put his arm around her shoulder and comforted her. It is a hard decision to make. He can't always put Alfred on line. Alfred has gone to extension, other people can't think. When he started by running away from home, he had the mercy of thousands of unknown faces to survive. They are not only Gotham residents, they are citizens of the world. Maybe, it is the time for him to make the decision. He recently witnessed something unleashed, which he can't control alone. He decided.

He took Selina's face in his hand and looked in her eyes. Those Blue eyes are so pure and vulnerable now. He whispered "Yes" and flickered his eyes slowly. Selina's eyes overflowed by joy. Bruce slowly brought Selina's face close to him. He brought her lips close to his, Selina abruptly stopped him before the kiss. She awkwardly confessed "Sorry Bruce, I am married". Bruce was exposed to that moment. Selina released herself from his hands. Bruce's face is so numb now, too many things happened at the same time. He is going through mixed emotions. Selina gets up and says "Thank you for accepting Bruce, I'll inform others" as she stood from the chair and kissed his cheek without any intimacy and walked away to the door. Bruce still couldn't react to anything. He couldn't figure out what is bothering him more now, the fact that he accepted to Join the league in the heat of the moment or the fact that Selina Kyle is already married. He needs to figure it out soon. As Selina opens the door to exit, she turns back and calls him "Bruce". Bruce looks at her with a dead face. Selina smiles brightly at him with a delight and says "Welcome to the league".


	2. Melody of the Seas

# Chapter 2

## Melody of the Seas

Everyone has assembled at the Watchtower conference room. For his past misadventures, Batman is still not welcomed by many members; Honestly, they don't find the need for Batman within the league. Superman and Selina had to have a long argument with the rest of the league explaining his goodwill nature. Batman feels like a new kid in the School, he is sitting next to Zatanna in the conference room. Flash and Zatanna were the only souls, he could bear in the league so far in his 3 weeks' time. Flash was the first one to chill with him, they even hung out after league hours. Flash introduced him to Zatanna, taking him to her show. Batman and Zatanna got along well. Zatanna, like Batman, is still in B- squad, working in the background. Batman considered her to be one of the most powerful sorceresses in the world. Having her ability genetically she cast spells on her challenger and uses illusions on their weaponry. But reliance on her voice often leads to her being bound and gagged by villains, a measure that renders her powerless. Hence, she is in B- Squad, helping out A- Squad, like clearing debris.

Batman helped the league on two or three occasions so far but nothing remarkable. He helped tracking Aku Kwesi for Vixen and aided Supergirl with her combat against Toyman. Given access to Javelin and Laboratory, he spent most of his time there learning about outer space and Inter-galactic technologies, curiously. He and Martian Manhunter are still working on the liquid metal he seized. Martian Manhunter used his extrasensory input and identified the liquid metal as some sort of fuel, which he couldn't crack for what.

Selina enters the conference room with Cyborg. Cyborg connects his pulse-link to the conference table initiating to share the feeds. A Hologram of a man's face till his chest appears in the middle over the conference table. Selina starts to debrief the case "This is Steve Trevor. Former Intelligence operative and officer in the United States Army Air Corps" Hologram starts to rotate slowly, Batman examines him closely as his instinct kicks a strong rivalry vibe. A list of his old file appears close to face Height: 6' 0", Weight: 172 lbs., Hair: Blond, Eyes: Blue, Marital Status: Single, Citizenship: American, Age : 39, Known Relatives: Tracy Trevor. Selina continues, "A year ago, the Pentagon declared him as dead after a mysterious plane crash and announced no remains were found".

Following her, Cyborg projected a video in the Hologram. A Recent fight of his with Intergang in the Gulf coast. Cyborg filled in the missing details, "My AI sensors alerted me finding this guy in the middle." The Video pauses, on face recognition mode AI zooms in on the guy with an advanced gun. His scarf sloping down revealed his face. He looks similar to Steve Trevor, except for his long hair and tan looks. Cyborg, pulling out the next information, "This is the audio feed that guy received before he retreated". An Audio analog played screeching, "Horsemen Charlie…. get your ass... and team.. back to the base". Superman identified the incoming voice and repulsed, "Bruno Mannheim".

Selina confirmed, "Yes. Steve Trevor is alive and he is now one of the leaders of the Intergang." A split screen shows Steve Trevor's old and new photo pointing out matching facial features. Selina added, "He is under the direct command of Bruno Mannheim, the head of the Intergang." The picture of Bruno Mannheim followed. Green lantern fumed as he replied,"I like to take him down personally". The Fact that one of the Intelligence operatives is now leading Intergang raged at him. Superman wanted to know, "Are they still under your radar?". Cyborg projected the next image nodding, "Yes!" - A Cruise Ship.

Cyborg zooms in on the name of the Oasis-Class Cruise Ship 'Melody of the Seas' as he elaborates, "Intergang acquired this Cruise Ship from Chantiers de l'Atlantique for an undisclosed sum using proxies. The deals, routes and other commercial activities are unaltered but the crew and the Captain were replaced by the new management. Interestingly, Steve Trevor is on board." Green Lantern summons, "that's not stopping us". Cyborg made the Cruise see-through, "The Energy surrounding this area alters from time to time. This could be the transmitter for off-world communications," Pointing out the beam projector, he adds, "This is unusual to be here and no other passenger vessel has it." Supergirl implies, "Catch the guy and destroy the ship. What is the big deal?". The Martian Manhunter who was listening calmly, now sheds his wisdom ably, "No. Those signals are vital for their operations. Destroying them will do no good. We should make use of this opportunity." Everyone nodded as they cognised.

Cyborg with a futile tone, "I tried to engage with it. The Beam's wavelength falls too short to dissipate. We should plant a high beam transmitter from outside to receive and decode the information." Superman in rosy fashion, " Good job, Cyborg." and he asked others "Any thoughts?". Zatanna sitting next to Batman, "Where is the cruise, now? I can penetrate by offering a Show and enchant them with my spell." Selina repelled back saying, "Thank you, Zatanna. But it requires more technical work and is also very dangerous. Our Field Expert in this scenario is Aquaman, who is busy fighting his cousin Orb in Atlantis. Melody of Seas is departing tomorrow for 7 Nights Greece and Croatia voyage with 1,380 passengers. A Potential Hostage situation. Intergang also has powerful Meta-humans in their defence. So we need some with more field experience."

Batman for the first time in the conference committed buoyantly, "I can do it." Selina wasn't surprised. But other members in the league looked down at Batman. Flash his buddy implied, "Batsy, you heard about the hostage situation right? In the middle of nowhere!". Batman with confidence, "Only if I get caught. Besides, I fought Meta-humans hand to hand before. No matter where I am, I can take care of myself." Selina looked around and as expected Green Lantern opposed it. He expressed contempt , "This is madness, we can't risk 1,300 people's lives with a new guy in B-squad. I'll do it, back me up with some technical guy." Batman parodied instantly, "Yes. So, send Mr. John here and hope Intergang is too blind to notice him as Green Lantern. In Fact, they will think of him as Dwayne Johnson 'Hey Mr. Rock! Can you show us your Signature move?," He mimicked along as he mocked. Green Lantern jumped from his seat. Superman interrupted them before starting a fighting argument and asked them to relax. Zatanna held Batman's hand, stopping him from further embarrassing the old marine. Batman, "I am sorry, but I don't give a shit about your hierarchy. I am here to do my job and let me do it," he announced to everyone in common.

The meeting concluded favouring Batman. Batman has his looks locked vacantly on Earth. The Earth-view area before the glass wall has become his new favourite area in the Watchtower. "I liked the way you controlled your emotions, brother". Batman replied with a sore grin for the mockery. Superman stepped closer and insisted, "I mean it. I admired the way you controlled your emotions." Batman retaliated "He started it first." Superman comforts him, "I know. That's why I said I admire you and your control. I could have never done it. My adopted parents and I usually have a longer argument than this. Because, I don't know when to stop. I give into emotions. You didn't. You knew how to bring things in your favour. I respect that quality in you". Batman in a vexation replied with a dead voice, "I am not in need of a solace now." Superman puts his hands over his shoulder, "Are You always this alone? Try making some friends, you may end up liking them." Batman chuckled, "With who? you A-squads? I don't think so. Besides I am doing fine with Flash and Zatanna FYI. Thank you" and he walked away.

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Alfred is packing for Bruce, Bruce with his Tab checking out the Cruise routes and weather predictions. Alfred is glad that Bruce has agreed to do this. Alfred expressed his content, "You can also use this as your pending holidays, Sir". Bruce without taking his eyes from he tab, "I will be back in 2 days, Alfred". Alfred buzzed, "But the voyage is for 7 nights, Master Bruce". Bruce, realising Alfred's disappointment by his tone, turns to him and discloses, "I know, But Gordon agreed to let me interrogate Bane in Gotham Central Prison. So, as soon as I plant the transmitter, I am taking Chopper back here." Alfred with old eyes gulped his emotions hard, he resumed to pack, "Will you be needing anything, Sir?". Bruce in a swift fashion, "Nope. Just glide the Bat when I am gone. Zatanna has agreed to cover Gotham in the meantime. Let's just try to stick with the plan," as he mentioned Bruce can't stop thinking about Bane. He opened up to Alfred, "Surprisingly, in 3 weeks, Bane never made any attempt to flee. He is giving his full cooperation, he prefers to be locked in and isolating himself from other prisoners." Alfred finds it strange. That is not Bane's nature. He can't submit like that. Alfred immersed in deep thoughts as if he recalled something, he utters, "Crocodiles!" Bruce is not sure what he heard, "What?"

Alfred gathers back his consciousness. He narrates, "During my Service in Egypt, me and my fellow Lance Corp lost in the middle of battle." Bruce shifts his attention. Alfred compresses his forehead to recall, as he continues, "We walked along the shore of the Nile river for days and nights. We finally found the Angoski tribe settlement, mostly fishermen. The Tribe provided us shelter and food." The Tension in his forehead eased. He can picture everything clear now. He added, "The Nile river is full of Saltwater Crocodiles, easily more than 20 feet long. Nile crocodiles are opportunistic apex predators; a very aggressive species, capable of taking any animal within their range. They live in close proximity to the tribe so contact is more frequent; Some are Man-eaters, possibly thousands of people each year, which includes children, hardly 1 in 4 reach adulthood."

Bruce focused on Alfred's words. Back in his head, the information processed as Bane's wildness and animalistic instinct matching with those deadly reptiles. Alfred zipped Bruce's last bag. He looked back at Bruce and continued, "One of the Angose narrated an unbelievable story about Crocodiles." Alfred sat across to Bruce and recited, "Suddenly one day, these Saltwater Crocodiles abandoned the Nile, they started to show up on the shore. It started as one, two and suddenly hundreds of them were just walking on the shore like ducks and turtles. But this time they did no harm to the tribe. They didn't attack their cattle and they didn't touch their children. Even, Kids started to play with these predators. Some Crocodiles died due to overheating, others only feed on fish. The Tribes thought it was Baba's miracle. They started to domesticate them. They never realised it is like keeping a triggered time-bomb in your pocket. That time of the year in the middle of summer, the Nile river flooded like never before. It was a disaster, washing out all the villages along the shore. The Angoski was nearly washed out. Many died. People lost all their livelihoods. Famine followed after, killing those who survived with hunger and disease. Then the River slowly returned to normal. Thousands of Bodies floated over the river and rotted in the land. Now, the Crocodiles which survived just by eating the fishes alone, preyed on those bodies. Each one can drag 4 full men back to the Nile. Those Predators sensed the massive flood, they changed their nature to survive both the flood and the famine. They adapted to their habitat, taking advantage of non-competitiveness; they outgrown the human population now."

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The Oasis-Cruise sweep gracefully over the heart of the ocean. From the top, the decks of the Cruise looked like a moving carnival. This is the first Sunset from the Cruise, People have eagerly gathered in the decks to witness the event under the evening Sky with a mixed tint of Red, Orange and Black. A flock of Seagulls are sliding in the air, squawking along with hymns of sea and catching the food thrown at them. Bruce arrived in the front deck, wearing a blue shirt with a polka dot and knee length khaki pants. His Sunglasses are automatically reading the face of the people and sending it to Alfred's Computer to identify the potential threat among the passenger and crew list. He walks across the aqua park, where people in swimwear are having fun in the water adventures featuring colourful waterslides, cannons, fountains, pools and whirlpools. It also has a separate section for children and their supervising parents. The Biggest structure is a one-of-a-kind ride where it starts off like a normal waterslide, then shoots people into a champagne bowl and loops them around before racing out toward the pool down below. Bruce can literally hear people's adrenaline level, he walks towards the ship's railings. He takes out his phone, snaps at the Sun which looks like a garnish of an Orange slice in blue Margarita. He types 'ταξίδι στη θάλασσα' followed by the smiling face with sunglasses emoji and uploads on Insta. He puts back his phone and leans over the railing.

The marine freshness trips him to nostalgia, he removed his sunglasses. He usually dwell on the haunted past of his Parent's murder. But now, he tried to recall beyond that. Standing there over a giant floating vessel, in the middle of nowhere, having an endless horizon in front of him, he recalled what Superman said to him in the Watchtower. He is Alone. He is lost. He is still young and has his whole of life in front of him. If things had gone fine, he would have naturally fitted in this spot of an eccentric Billionaire who can spend 1800 USD for a day in the luxury Cruise. But life had different plans. During his time away from Gotham, he worked in a Cargo ship as coolie with all dirt and sweat. He laughed to himself. Reflecting on his past gave him the space and time to see just how far he has come in life.

The Sun is still rinsing in the ocean, matching his mood. He stopped his memory trails and switched to a meditative stand. Bruce slowly closes his eyes. It is just him now in the Black cubical box, slowly going away from basic human traits and attachments. The Black Cubical box in his mind enlarges with every breath. He is slowly reaching the peak of meditation, the Stage where he doesn't exist anymore. The Black box is consuming him and taking away all his emotional packages, his desires, his misery, his pleasure, his pain, his lust, his passion, his love. "Excusez-moi", a voice brings him back to the material world. He opens his eyes looking at the Sun, which in next 10-15 minutes will be gone. His Consciousness is not awake yet. The Sky is illuminating the Golden hour light, making him feel like everything happening around is a dream. He blinked, gathered back his Self.

He turned to see an old French couple smiling back at him. The Old man in the couple greeted him politely, "Bonsoir messieurs. Can you take a picture of us?" His old eyes requested him and his shaky hands are holding a Sony A7S II camera with 50mm. Bruce immediately accepted with a warm and bright smile. They Shifted their position, the Couples moved in front of the railing and Bruce walked back facing them. He looks through the viewfinder and snaps. The Couple altered their pose for three more snaps. They must have married very young and living happily so far. Bruce's detective mind kicked in. Bruce checked the pictures and after a small hesitation told them," It is a good silhouette. But no face. I can click you from here to capture your face." The Couple happily agreed and moved perpendicular to the light and ship. Bruce moved his stand, trying out a composition. He walked zig-zag, up and down as he saw through his viewfinder. He sees - A Happy couple in cross light, the beautiful Bridge and small portion evening Sky. He moves backward, he couldn't get much of the Sky. He bends his knee, the old couple giggles. He goes wide, exposing most of the Bridge. Not working again. He moves little to his left. He bends the knee again, through his viewfinder now he gets the perfect amount of Sky and Bridge. He asks the couple to smile, he positions his frame as Seagulls are flapping behind. He went left and up and saw a beautiful girl coming in frame. Not working again. He goes back to centre and down. Got it. He snapped. The flash brought back his visual recall of the girl in the Bridge.

He took his eyes from the viewfinder and slithered them to the top floor of the Bridge to check whether the girl is for real. Bruce, immediately captivated by the sight of a young girl standing away from the Sun's direction as the last trace of sunlight is showering her long silky raven hair She is all alone in the restricted area of the Cruise. She is tall, well built, a perfect mix of beauty and elegance. She is wearing a ¾ sleeve wine red floral dress. Her hair and dress are waving in unison for ocean tide. A beautiful portrait of melancholy. Seeing all at once, a current flowed through him like a rain. He felt too much for him to take. Bruce stopped breathing, as he saw more of her. The old man took the camera from Bruce's hand and looked at the picture he took. His eyes delighted to see the image, offered his camera for his wife to take a look. It was such a classy portrait of them with all other things in colourful bokeh. Giving them a centre of world feeling, the heart-warmed couple knew this will be the picture that they will leave for their generations to follow. The guy in the couple utters, "Magnifique!", to Bruce still with his eyes on the girl. Before the girl goes back, she wanders her eyes around and finds Bruce who is looking back at her. Bruce didn't realise to turn away, as he saw deep into her. Their eyes met for a second and the girl went back in. He drifted back to the old gentlemen and replied,"Yes".

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Bane is sitting alone in the Prison dining hall. Unlike his previous terms, he is free of restricting body shields. Due to his full cooperation, Gordon offered him this privilege of Dining alone. He knows anytime soon, Gordon will re-start the investigation. He told them about why he accepted to assault those scientists but bailed out to point who hired him. He asked for some time to process, basically we wanted to enter negotiation. He will exchange the information for reduced prison sentences and availing some prison benefits. Gordon agreed to sit in for negotiation, with Batman. His concerns will be addressed only if the information provided is legit. "I never knew you are a Vegan!" Bane turned his neck to see Bronze Tiger in a prison uniform, standing behind. Bane checks at the Dining gate, the guards are missing. After all this prison is still in Gotham- the heart of corruption, he thought to himself. He turned back to his plate. Bronze Tiger sat next to him. "What do you want?" asked Bane in a low growl. Bronze Tiger replied empathetically, "Just checkin at you. We are a team, brother." Raged Bane husked, "I am just a hired gun, remember?". Bronze Tiger replied with glee, "No. We always thought you as one of us. It is hard to ignore you, Big man. You belong with us." Bane remained silent. Bronze Tiger, "It is understandable you are going in terms with the Police Commissioner. But, We can provide you a lot better. You know us, don't you?," he finished with light dire. Bane opens up, "What do you want?". Bronze Tiger sharply utters with a killer tone, "Batman". Bane chuckled at his silly remark, "That is not possible..," he took a pause and continued, "at least from within these walls". Bronze Tiger murmurs in shrewd, "Things are arranged. You have a choice. Come back to us or eat this shit. Anyway, We're gonna come back to put you guys out of this misery." Bane saw a ghoul in Bronze Tiger's eye. Bronze tiger lifts from the seat and walks back to his cell.

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Bruce is back in his room, taking shower. His laptop is cross-examining all the faces again he recorded in the Sunglasses. He comes out and changes to comfortable clothes. He commands his watch, "Clear all EM signals". Watch interface blinks and replies, "all Electromagnetic devices around are turned off". He jumps to the bed, "Good! Call Alfred". Alfred picks up his phone, "Evening Master, I am running through the Data you have sent. Nothing suspicious so far." Bruce unfolds his deed, "I penetrated the staff quarters to reach the generator room. It has Bioscanners. I am positive that the communicator is there. I have to wait for someone to open it. The gel will record their fingerprint, but for Iris I have to find the person." Alfred inquires, "Did the door have any surveillance camera Sir?," Bruce nodded his face, "I jammed them but couldn't find any data." Alfred suggests with an open remark, "May be you have to extend your holidays, Master Bruce". Bruce thinking out loud, "Nope. I think I know the person and I exactly know where to find him."

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Bruce is wearing a grey blazer with black V-neck and skinny jeans with leather white mambo shoes. His masculine frame is more evident in this tight outfit. He entered the Bolero, a dimly lit Ballroom hall which also serves dinner and drinks. Couples are dancing salsa to the latin rhythm performed live in the middle of the hall. The room smelled straight rum and tequila. Bruce walked to the bar and took a seat at an empty table and ordered 'Cantina Laredo Margarita'. Bruce looked across to find a beautiful dark skinned girl with curly hair. Bruce smiled at her, the varying lights worked magic in her skin. She noticed him who was also sitting alone and smiled back at him. He gets up and moves to her table. He sat comfortably next to her and approached her, "Hi" with a sweet gesture. The girl replies back with soft shyness across her lips, "Hi". Bruce introduced himself, "I am Bruce, Businessman". She received him with an approachable smile, "Rhonda, A Yoga trainer and Swimsuit Model". Bruce offered her as a polished man, "Can I buy a drink?". Rhonda delicately replies, "No, I had enough". With a respectable chuckle, Bruce finds out, "You wanna dance with me?," Rhonda confessed immediately, "I was waiting for someone to come and ask," and burst into laughter.

They stepped on the dancing floor. Eddie Palmieri's 'Vámonos pal monte' is already in the middle of live performance, they joined other couples in the hall. Bruce held her right hands and guided her left hand to her back. They stepped front and back 'on1' timing. They danced at their own pace shifting their weight by stepping, with the upper body remaining in level. They did a right turn smoothly matching the beat and continued again to step front and back. They picked up a pace and did a cross lead changing their positions. Bruce encouraged her to do a shanay turn, as she did they again continued to step front and back with a playful smile, enjoying themselves in dance. Bruce's eyes fell at the entry point. He noticed the guy in the Black Suit entering the Ballroom is Steve Trevor. He has company, he stretches his arm and pulls his lady close to him. It is the same girl Bruce saw in the Bridge. She is now wearing a Black satin thin strap Maxi dress having a small slit by side with gold thick Heels. She is also wearing weird looking long bracelets on her wrist and her long silky black hair is set loose. They held hands as they walked to take a seat in the Bar which had a reserved card.

Rhonda noticed the distraction in Bruce. As they do Cross lead and follow, Bruce's eyes are not hers. She noticed where it went and followed it to the Couple at the table. Rhonda unwinds, "Bruce, you good?". Bruce hiding the small guilt replied to her casually, "Yeah. I am fine, Rhonda" as continued to dance. Rhonda enquired him boldly, "Then, why are you stalking that girl in the Bar? You wanna dance with her?". Bruce felt a remorse building in him, He replied with coltish, "What? No. I wanna dance with you Rhonda." Rhonda tried to read Bruce's face. He looked like he was enjoying dancing. She couldn't penetrate his mind. Rhonda couldn't dance properly with thoughts running back on her head. She gave up. She clogged, "You know what, I want to dance with that Guy on the table. I am gonna ask him, maybe I can set you with her." They stopped dancing. Bruce fully realises what Rhonda is trying to do to him. He still tried to fix up, "You don't have to do this…" but Rhonda dragged him out of the dancing hall.

They both reached the table where Steve is sitting with his girl. Rhonda approached boldly, "Hi Guys". Even for Bruce he finds it intimidating. Rhonda dashingly asked Steve, "Can I have a dance with you?". Steve bursted out in laughter not knowing what exactly was happening. He tried hard to hide his amusement, but Rhonda lured, "Please, I will return you back to your fiancée in 15 minutes." Steve find her attractive. He couldn't resist anymore and agrees, "Yeah, Sure". Before they clear, Rhonda calls, "Bruce!". Bruce comes into the picture, Rhonda sounds desperate, "Bruce will please take care of this poor girl here for me, I am borrowing her handsome guy for a dance" pointing the girl. She even suggests, "Show her some Good time, or You two can join us on the floor" she made it sound like a good idea. Steve can't agree more, he pressed Bruce, "Yes! You two should dance." looking back at his girl, pleading with her. Having done that, Steve and Rhonda walked to the dance floor.

She saw Bruce with her blue eyes. Bruce stretches his hand to her, after a brief pause she takes the offer. Bruce and the girl walk to the dance floor. The light is too dim to see others and it varies continuously. They found a spot and stood in neutral positions in front of each other, they had a perfect height to synchronise. To their timing, the troupe announced they were gonna perform the 'Shape of you' Salsa version. The Music starts, the Lead, Bruce holds his hands face up and lets the follow place her hands face down in his palms. He pressed his other hand over her back and The lady placed her left hand on Bruce's right shoulder. The Popular Song demanded 'on2' timing, both the dancers are aware of the song. They started moving in sync forward and backward with normal holds. Bruce shifts the variations to crossed holds. The girl seems familiar with Salsa and the song picked the led spontaneously, which encouraged Bruce to dance more playfully. He led the variations facing the line of Dance. They danced facing each other for, then they faced the same direction followed by facing the opposite directions from each other.

Bruce led the Change of a hand hold. She liked his unpredictable yet challenging way of dancing. Her eagerness encouraged Bruce to change of direction, swapping the position to the beat of the song. They did cross body lead to the song and again continued variations. Then they started to do turns. The girl beautifully swivelled around. Bruce led her complicated moves. He changed variations to variations from change of direction to turns and change of a hand to turn and then he did copa. The Girl followed up naturally, but her dress is tight in her leg area not making it comfortable for her to move and turn seamlessly, so she added more pressure on her heels.

As the song reached the "Come on, come on, baby come on" portion, Bruce started to do walks and natural top. Crowd starts to notice them, as they outdid others in the hall. He did copa again, and then continued normal closed holds for sometime. Crowd encouraged them, as they started to clap along the song and "wow" sounds as they danced. Bruce led hand throw - responding to the crowd's excitement. The variations shifted to the hammerlock. Bruce started to dance with little tease, He led her to embrace. Crowd loved every single second of it. Bruce led an arm loop releasing her by change of position. The Girl wants to be equally competitive, except for dress. With all the turns and swivel, a thin strap in her heels grip starts to peel. She continued to follow Bruce, who is doing more complicated moves in 'on2' timing to please his spectators.

Bruce led her copa to the final verse "I am in love with you body", her heels completely came off with that sudden swivel. She slipped to the floor. Bruce stopped and the music faded to the end part. The girl is still on the floor with her heels broken. The Crowd goes,"ohhh" and then the next moment they start to clap for her dancing all these complicated moves in that uncomfortable maxi dress. Bruce bend to reach her, she looked at him bitterly. Bruce mocked her, "Hey, that wasn't so bad after all. I threw more talented people out before." The Girl refuses his hand and gets back to her legs. Bruce starts to clap along with the crowd mocking her savagely. The Girl removes both her heels in front of him and puts them away. The troupe announced the next song is "Duelo de Bongo" and started to play. She challenges Bruce and offers to take her hand. Crowd roared at her act. She can hear, "There you go, girl" scream from the crowd. Bruce with a playful coy on his lips, looked at her standing in a barefoot and asking him to follow. He goes, "Seriously?". The Girl nods confidently, "Yes."

Now, The girl is the lead and Bruce followed her. Bruce and the girl danced to the spectator's wonder. Bruce liked the challenge following her lead. She lead walks and Change of direction. She led sombrero and did turns repeatedly for the cuban tune. With her bare foot, she nailed those turns and swivel. Suddenly Bruce started to feel her arms weigh more on his shoulder. As they did an arm loop, he almost felt an unbearable pain on his shoulder through her arms. The pain becomes more evident on his face. He started to think about her strength in the middle of the dance. He missed synchronisation and again she led an arm loop, his shoulder started to twist. He screamed and stepped backwards. Abruptly, they stopped dancing. This is unbelievable, he looked at her face. Crowd cheered and applauded for her. Steve and Rhonda showed up near them, Rhonda enquired, "Bruce are you okay?"

Bruce rotated his shoulder, knuckled his joints. This is embarrassing. Steve looked at her face, she did not even acknowledge him. The pain is not easing in Bruce's shoulder. He knows it is 'On'. He removed his blazer and gave it to Rhonda. The Girl in parallel tied her loose hair to a tight bun. They again stepped in face to face. People grabbed their drinks and sat around. Everyone waited for Cuban song to finish. Once, the song faded the other couples cleared the dance floor. The lead guy in the music department announced in the mic, "Hello guys! How y'all doing? Please give your hands to yourself and these young sparks here. That was Salsa at it's best, don't you guys agree? Let's add Some spice, now we are going to play a new track. A spicy track. How many of you like Señorita? Make some noise." A majority in the crowd roared back in response. The Main guy continued, "Are you guys ready for a batacha version of it?," and he and the troupe started to play. Initially, both were shocked to hear the word batacha. But, Bruce prepared to engage as he knows the song well verse.

Batacha is a little different from traditional salsa. In partnering, the lead can decide whether to perform in open, semi-closed or closed positions. The Steps will vary strongly depending on the music. Unlike Salsa, bachata dance does not usually include many turn patterns. Bruce moved closer to the girl as they did box steps holding each other's hands. The girl swayed her hips more to match the beat. Facing each other they simply stepped side to side, in a square matching the song. Dancing together in a box step, they started to feel a lighter interplay developing between them. Bruce decided to open up into a variety of more complex started to dance 'cha-cha' steps for male portion 'la.. la... la...". The Couple varied from emphasizing the moment to going subtle and again emphasizing the forward moment. They made Changes in direction and phase. They parted in different directions. Bruce started to clap in the middle of the song along with the music troupe for the 'Señorita' portion . They again coupled to dance Diagonal box step. Crowd starts to clap along with the song. Bruce can see a shy full smile decorating her lips, this encouraged him to dance more intimate. They danced closer, as Bruce led a quick splash on her. She followed and slide back. She is aware of his hands on her now. The song starts to crescent, as they finish their dance with a split. Bruce holds her by stomach, her left feat up in the air.

The Crowd showered the beautiful couple with applause and whistles. The Main guy again comes to the mic, "So, you guys enjoyed ha? What you liked most? The Music or the Dance?" The Crowd without hesitation replied in chores, "The Dance" and a hysterical laughter followed in chores. The embarrassed music guy, "We went easy on our guest, Do you guys think they can dance to our original number? I bet, if they can't managed to finish our next song. If they do, then I will agree with you. What y'all say?," Bruce nodded like it was over. But Crowd chanted "Dance! Dance! Dance!" the music started. It sounded sensual, their original piece sounding more Latin than European. The Girl waited for Bruce's cue. Rhonda encouraged them to Dance. Steve is clueless, in fact little jealous. Bruce stepped in again, he started to develop his own dance style. The Girl came closer to him. Bruce starts to leads the body of the girl to the batacha tune. The Dance looked novel, with mostly circular movements and body waves. The song is so slow paced, so they dragged their body movements in one position for a long time before quickly moving onto the next step and dragging it.

Bruce graced her neck as they danced dual neck roll, and Bruce taught her to do neck roll bounce around. She picked it up fast and followed his lead. The Music tripped him more, as Bruce started the sensual cradle, as he twirled her, his left hand holds her and his right hand stopped little about her rear. Their shoulders interlocked and they shifted their weight forward and backward. Crowd starts to make some noise as they witness the heat in their intimacy. Steve is turning red. They get closer and closer with every push, pull, hook and spin. He took her hands and kept it on his chest. As they danced, he pulled her close by her hips, and their chests creamed on each other. The Girl started to follow him round and round, as the music was getting familiar. Bruce led to a switch and sensual neck roll which brought their faces together. He can smell her hair, separately from her face. Her hair smelled of fresh jasmine. He turned her around and led a sensual superstar, lightly caressing top her breast. The heat in that area burned his palms. He twisted her and caught from her from behind led a sensual Titanic grasping her curvy hip smoothly, joining their lower body and moving it to and fro for the rhythm. Steve has seen enough. He is grinding his teeth patiently for the song to get over. Though Bruce likes to hold her there for long, his decency released her to lead Hammerlock neck roll. Bruce now felt the girl as light as a feather. The song was about to end, Bruce grasped her hips again, raised her in the air and dropped her smoothly, finishing with a sensual dip. He timed it exactly to the last beat of the music.

The Crowd gives a standing ovation for both the dance and the sensual music. What they witness is just beyond dance and music. A wonderful chemistry between ice and fire. Rhonda runs to Bruce and gives him a tight hug. Bruce was sweating and trying to regulate his breath. Lot of people in the front deck patted his back, they surrounded him making him struggle to catch his breath. Rhonda gives him the drink he ordered before, his shoulder is still stiff from the pain. Bruce turned towards the dance floor. As the crowd started to retire from the hall moving to the next venue, he couldn't find the girl in the crowd. Rhonda cuts in, "Your Phone was beeping, when you were on the floor." Bruce without showing any reaction replied, "Must be my Clients". Rhonda asked him, "You wanna join me for dinner, I am going to the one in the deck". Bruce passes her, "I think I will be having a long call. So I have to go to my room first. You carry on, I will catch you later." Rhonda bids him a bye. The Room is empty now. The Girl must have went with the Steve Trevor. He Commands his watch, "Call Alfred". Alfred picks up the call, "Sorry Master, I didn't mean to disturb you". Bruce enquiries, "what's up? Alfred". Alfred replied, "I compiled a list from the data you've sent. I tracked their name and details as given in Cruise's database management. Some of them are fatal." This confirms the theory of Selina, there are Meta-humans in Intergang. Bruce tells him to, " Send over" Alfred agrees, " Right away Sir" and cuts the line. Bruce takes out his phone from blazer, checks the list Alfred has complied for him. He swaps the picture one by one as it has a picture, name, age and nationality. Most of them are in crew disguise. He stops to look at Steve Trevor's picture. It is mentioned as Charles Brown under the name section and English as nationality. He swaps to see the next picture. He got chills in his spin. It is the picture of the girl he danced with. It all makes sense to him, the power in her arms. She must be Meta-human. He reads the details written by her picture. Name: Diana Prince, Age: 24, Nationality: Greek. Next to threat level, bold red letters say FATAL.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked it. See you in next chapter. Cheers!


	3. Let’s talk Business

# Chapter 3

## Let's talk Business

Booster Gold is walking through the recently erected temporary medical tent. More than thousand people admitted from the aftermath of Indonesia forest fire. Booster Gold enters the isolated Burns Ward, he can see hundreds of people, particularly children crying out loud from the pain of severe burns. Since the morning, all he could hear was howling cry and siren noise and the ward smelt like burnt skin. He can't take it anymore, he left the ward. The State Cop brings one of the local guys to Booster Gold to record the first witness statement. Booster Gold takes his micro-transmitter and hints to the Cop, "Ask him, When and where did the fire start?". The State Cop interprets in local language to the guy. Some conversation happens between the two before the Cop vexes back to Booster Gold, "Sir, He is also saying the same thing. The Fire poured from the sky over". Booster Gold peeved by the same answer again, all sources are confirming the same thing; The Fire came from the sky and poured over them simultaneously.

Booster Gold drills further, "Did he see any Explosives or some kind of aviation vehicle?". The Cop interprets again with hand gestures. The local turns him down again,"Nothing, Fire just poured like rain from the cloud". Booster Gold murmurs to himself and the Cop, "This is a Palm forest. A match stick is enough to burn the whole ground down." and walks out the tent.

Outside the medical tent, he sees the Local and International Media reporting, "More than 900,000 people reported to have suffered, 12 national airports halted operations, and hundreds of schools in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore had to temporarily close due to the fires. The Justice League and the Firefighters are still trying to cease out..."

The forest is still burning, Blue Beetle is on one of the choppers. Blue Beetle is an expert in Disaster analysis and management. He and a local team are analysing the source for the fire from the chopper. Superman and other league members are helping to contain the fire and saving the people. Blue Beetle receives an incoming from Booster Gold, he asks first, "Anything Booster Gold?" Booster Gold shared his puzzle, "Nothing solid. Either I am getting lost in translation or the Fire actually poured from the Sky for real." This bewildered Blue Beetle. He has checked with the Watchtower radars, it shows nothing suspicious. Indonesia has been warned a lot of times to keep its civilians at a safer distance from the forest. Third World Politics neglected The Justice league's suggestion.

An Idea sparked in his mind. Blue Beetle tried to look at the big picture. He imagined a kind of pattern in the fire and immediately asked the Pilot to elevate higher. As the chopper heaves he can see Superman is using Freezing breath at the fire and Flash is cutting the oxygen supply by running around it. Supergirl and Martian Manhunter are carrying people to a safer place. The Chopper hovers in its maximum height and now he can see the fire starting from the Mountains ahead of him and covering all the way to the city side. Blue Beetle includes the places where the fire has been put out inside his imagination. It definitely forms a pattern. He informs Booster Gold, "Even it doesn't strike to me as natural", Booster Gold stuns, "What do you mean?". Blue Beetle explains, "Looking down from here it seems like the forest is burning in a pattern," Booster Gold in agape, "What? What pattern?".

Blue Beetle struggles to name the shape and guess, "Like an…. Omega!" he can't tell it for sure as Superman and others are putting out the fire rapidly. Before Booster Gold open-mouthed, "Omega!" he heard panic sounds coming from the other end of the transceiver and followed a screaming howl. Booster Gold yelled back in nervous, "Blue Beetle, What is happening?". No response. He looked up in the sky but he couldn't spot the Chopper amidst the chaos. He tries again to connect, "Blue Beetle, respond. Do you copy?". Communication is dead. Booster Gold cries out, "Superman! Martian!". Normally they would hear but not now. Millions of civilians are screaming and begging for life, they can't prioritize one of them and that too for a cry coming from a safer area in their radar. He looks around and finds a Mountain remained untouched by the fire.

Booster Gold reached the Mountain, "Blue Beetle, you there?". The Mountain has a deep cave carved in the bottom. He stands in front of the mouth of the cave, he screams out loud from the lungs, "Blue Beetle?". The Cave is too dark to see through, only Bats flapping noise reaches him back. He steps into walks inside the hollow cave. A few steps inside, all his electronic devices start to jam. He lost contact. Booster Gold looked around, Bats hanging upside down all the way inside the cave. Some LED light is blinking on the floor. He rushes to find Blue Beetle's broken Transceiver. He screeched, "Ted" his voice echoed back disturbing the Bats. He turned to the mouth of the cave, cried out once again "Martian!, Superman!". Suddenly something passed behind him.

He saw deep inside the cave as his helmet vision was not working. The Fire outside shed a dim trace of light which oscillated continuously for the wind. He senses a presence beyond Bats in the cave. He developed the courage to yelp, "Who is it? I know somebody is there". He walks front, "The Consequences will be severe, if you don't surrender my friend now". A drip of saliva from the roof bleed on his shoulder. He mocks, "These Bats don't scare me". A devilish growl roars back, "But these are not Bats". Booster Gold looks up, the fire's light brushes the roof. Those are not Bats and they reveal to him more with their sharp monstrous teeth.

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Bruce awakens. Next to him Rhonda is still sleeping naked and peacefully. Bruce taps his watch, it is 2 after midnight. Previously that night, he joined Rhonda for dinner and they ended up in her room, which is by the way closer to the Generator room. Bruce gets and dresses himself in his t-shirt, jean and hoodie. He finds his smartphone in the hoodie pocket and leaves a note to Rhonda 'Should present myself for a teleconference, if possible I'll catch you by Breakfast'. Opening the door gently, he checked outside. Nobody is in his way except for two Guards at the entrance before Staff quarters. He activates 'Stealth mode' in his watch, which will jam all the surveillance devices in his way.

He distracts the Guards by throwing a lounge stool inside the pool. Hearing a *Splash* sound, the Guards run to check. Bruce breaks into Staff quarters effortlessly. He walked in without knocking mostly in shadows as he passed the sleeping Intergang, in which some of them are meta-humans.

Bruce reaches the Generator room and takes out the 3D scanned model of Steve Trevor's thumb print, lays it over the scanner. It recognises the thumb print as positive. Next for Iris, He shows his smartphone to scan. Last Night, when Rhonda lured Steve, he scanned Steve's retina incognito. The System IDed legit.

Entering the generator room, he locks the door from inside. Exploring around, Bruce marvelled to find a Square box levitating in the air. The charging yellow rays make it difficult to see it with naked eyes. Bruce tries hard to see all four sides of the square have glass circles over it, which are filled with a yellow substance. He identifies them as the same liquid metal he seized in Gotham. 'So, this must be it'. The Top of the square has an orbital opening like a lid and the bottom of the square has heavy wires connected to it. He pictures them in his smartphone's camera and leads in the direction where the bottom wires direct.

A Series of Supercomputers are connected to the Square. The Square is the core and these Supercomputers are its periphery for ciphering. Bruce finds the mainboard and opens it. These Systems are as advanced as his in Bat-cave. He plants the bug which fakes a Parallel ATA and displaces it to the mainboard. He takes the transmitter which Cyborg gave him and does the same with the router. Now Cyborg can channel these Supercomputers from anywhere.

He observantly quits from the Generator room and crosses Staff quarters "Hey, Where you think you are going, get back to bed," a voice commanded in an authoritative tone behind his back. It is one of the Guards, they returned meantime. The Magic Square obliviates the time. Bruce's hoodie covers his back fully, no way they can see his face. He slowly kept moving towards the door. The Guard growled again, "Hey, can't you hear me. I will knock you out if you take one more step forward. Come back here." Bruce can hear a Gun trigger. He delays. The Guard wit coarsely, "The only way out here is jumping into the ocean to feast the sharks, you dumbass." Bruce stayed fixed on his stand. The Guard orders, "Turn back and show your cunt face".

Bruce projects the movement of turning and jumps between the lines of bunker cots. The Guard enraged and raced him behind. Bruce manoeuvres his way to the door by parkour between the cots and sleeping Intergang. The Guard took one or two shots at him. They didn't sound like bullets to Bruce. He heeds a kind of needle with a grey serum inside. He successfully opens the door to pull-out but a sudden turbulence in the Cruise slides him back and he gets shot by a needle in his left arm's biceps.

The Guard came out following him, He went ahead looking for him in the front deck. Bruce reveals from his hideout. He removes the small syringe from his bicep and puts it in his jean pocket. He takes out his hoodie, rolls it and tosses it into the ocean. He can feel the compound of the drug in his blood. He has tested many drugs on him, but this one feels more lucid. This Serum must be good enough to sedate meta-humans, he thought. The Guards are coming back in his direction. His sense is falling apart; he will completely collapse and he knows he can't make it to his or Rhonda's room. There is a Bridge in the middle of the decks. In no time he climbs it from outside and crashes on the cold floor. His legs weaken and his nerve root is losing function. His eyes and ears are caving in and his breathing congests. He starts to develop hallucination. The full moon in the clear sky melts, Aliens comes out from the sky, his Parents tense before a gun point, Bats ambushing him, Diana and he paralysed.

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Near the core of the ocean, a stealth Submarine is retreating from the battle. Inside it, Orm is sitting with heavy injuries and only a cluster of his army got away from their ruined battle. His half-brother Aquaman aka Arthur Curry who upon his arrival possessed Orm's mother and married his fiancee Mera, manipulated other marine creatures against him. He unleashed Karathen and the Trench over Orm's army and seized his title 'Ocean Master' meaning the ruler of Atlantis. Now, Orm has lost everything to his bastard brother and is burning with a vengeance. At the last minute he decided to save his life, the cowardly act bruised his honor.

Orm steps out from his medic, passes his impaired army and reaches the control room. Black Manta and his crew are leading an exodus. Orm gifted him all the technologies and artillery to devastate their common enemy - Aquaman. Like him, Black Manta too failed to achieve their desired result. Black Manta shuts the stealth mode, they are now free from Atlanta's sovereignty. "You can't wage your brother or the Surface World immediately in this condition." Black Manta imparts Orm who he is even struggling to stand. Orm can hardly open his mouth to sound out, "That's why I need my Ships and Artillery back,'' he says and points his Sword in a defence stand. Black Manta can just kill him now. He knows Orm is exceptionally cruel, amoral and dishonest in order to get his revenge. Now that wrath has consumed and made him too blind to even detest his friends and ally. He turns to him and vows instead, "I can still help you" and instructs him, "Get back to your seat, We have a meeting in the Surface World". Orm puts his stance down and he raises, "with whom?" Black Manta flatly says, "A Friend".

The Submarine pops-up to the sea level. It ejects the Pod to the surface with Orm, Black Manta and his crew. Orm discovers it as an uninhabited Island in the middle of nowhere. Black Manta and his crew step out of the Pod and Orm follows them towards the thick tropical forest. The Crew clears the path in impenetrable forest. Orm is disgusted by the Surface World ecosystems especially the leeches on his way. Straight away he sees two monstrous Megabats guarding the forest lay ahead of them. Those Monsters suit in black and grey armours. Their Red lens over their eye region distinguishes them from other creatures wandering around the forest. They have two sets of wings in their spine and energy rifles in their arms. Orm has never heard of these dire creatures before in Surface World. He has seen many scary and adept things before but these Monsters here intimidate him.

Black Manta whispers "Parademons" to Orm. He identifies himself to the Parademons and walks past them, within 15 feets the forest has disappeared and a mining field comes into their way.

They reached half way down into the mine and entered a Canvas. The interior of Canvas looks like a palace for royals in Atlantis. The Canvas and the Mine are guarded by the Parademons in both air and land.

They reached half way down into the mine and entered a Canvas. The Canvas looks like an expensive palace for royals in Atlantis. The place and the mine are heavily guarded by the Parademons in both air and land. "Bow," a sinister-sounding boom reached them, followed by a heavy breathing sound. Black Manta and his crew bowed immediately. Orm is still imbecilic to the situation. Black Manta pulls down Orm to his knees and begs, "Master Steppenwolf, forgive us. Our Guest here has no knowledge of your superior presence. He begs for your mercy." The only sound they heard back is a Teeth gritting sound as if somebody is suppressing their outrage. "Come forward" the boom echoed again. Black Manta and Orm moved front with their heads still bowed. Black Manta introduced Orm "Master, This is Orm. An Heir to Atlantis." There is a change in the tone of the Sinister voice which ordered Orm, "Show me your face!" he slowly raises his face to look at Steppenwolf. He looked at the extremely ruthless, destructive, cold, and sinister sitting in a throne with his Electro Axe by his side. Orm swallows his terror. Steppenwolf "What if I can enter Atlantis? he Atlantis has come to me" mocked the New God to his Parademons.

"Why do you need my mercy, Atlantan?," hits Steppenwolf. "I want my kingdom, Master," Orm placed his words carefully. " and What do you offer?," Steppenwolf terrorized him with an animal tone. "Anything you wish for, my Master. I want to seek revenge on my bastard brother..," Black Manta interrupted in the middle, "Master Steppenwolf, My friend here wants Atlantis kingdom to serve you highness.," Steppenwolf utters a mocking cheeky laughter and asks Orm "Is it so?," Orm learning Black Mantis tricked him, jerked for a second but nods his head as he has no way out, "Yes Master, I oblige," says as he shivered.

Steppenwolf raised his Electro Axe, "The little kingdom of yours has hidden a precious mine, Can you excavate that for me?,". Steppenwolf shows a picture of a Square box before it vanishes in the air. The Parademons fly around him as Orm gulps and agrees. "Then My Parademons shall unleash their wrath on your command," Steppenwolf orders. Orm bows again.

As they process to leave, Steppenwolf warns Orm in his sinister-sounding boom, "Remember, Atlantis is mine! Keep it untouched with your worthless lives."

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Bruce slowly opens his eyes. He inhales and exhales by force to normalize his rhythm. He is laying shirtless in a bed and a small cotton is dressed around the blow spot. Bruce can ponder the Cruise movement and finds he is in somebody's room. He pulls himself up next movement and checks his watch is missing. It can't be detached without his access. This alarmed him, he must have been captured. He notices his body is still tremulous and he is not fully recovered. Only his trained consciousness has kicked him awake, others wouldn't have made it. He gets to the door using all his strength and finds it silly just locked from inside. He initiates to break the door but then ceases abruptly. He can hear somebody in shower. The clock shows 7 in the morning. The dressing table in front of the closet has neatly pressed clothes over it. Bruce scouts to recover his watch in the meantime. He checked everywhere in the box, table drawer, bedside locker before he came to the dressing closet. The closet has a very deviant collection of women's attire. 'Is he in Rhonda's room?' He can't get a grip, his head feels woozy and fogged. He checks for her size in the clothes aligned in the dressing table. A Black basic classic racerback tank perfect dress followed by a wine red flower lace lingerie set. 'A flower panty? Why does anyone need flowers in their panty?' His thought distracted 'Shit, Why am I thinking like a pervert? This Serum is definitely a bad influence' he moves away from the dressing table.

In the shoe rack, Bruce sees a familiar heels set which is broken. The door knob of shower room makes a *crack*. Diana pops in with a white towel wrapped around her. She stops to check her bed, Bruce is still lying unconscious. Diana sits in front of the dressing table mirror to apply her lotions. Her shower alone scented him a soft floral of roses and base of white musk. Now Bruce consumed an alluring mix of sandalwood and passionfruit from her lotion. His dizzy head kicked a visual recall of her long silky hair fluttering on his face with the rich aroma of jasmine. Diana places a small amount of body lotion into her palm and rubs it between her palms. Using her both hands, She massages the lotion onto a small area of her delicate skin in gentle circular motions. She covers her entire body in lotion and goes more generous on areas of thick skins of her elbows and knees. She reached her outer legs and applied lotion with long, gentle strokes upward. She bends to linger her fingers over her shin and massages her soft skin in calves. She raised her head to see in the mirror, Bruce standing behind her with a sharp glass piece pointing her neck.

"Where is my watch?" he thrust the glass piece close to her neck. Diana jolts, "You are awake?". Bruce chokes and pulls her head back, "Why? You thought you're the only one with powers and secrets? Where is my watch?," he roared in a low tone on her ear. Diana composed herself, "Bruce, right? Listen you have to relax," Not being able to stand still and when Diana called out his name, it triggered uncontrollable madness, "How do you know my name?," He clenched her from behind, rotating her shoulders and he forced him outwards to pin her on the wall inside facing him. His hands almost gave away the glass piece in this action. Bruce slid his dominant forearm under her chin and lodged it firmly between her chin and chest. Wrapped his other arm tightly around her neck to hold them in place to stabilize his grip. "I know you are powerful, but I can break your neck permanently," he furies. Diana hushed, "I checked your ID in your wallet". 'Holy Shit, they have checked him'. Bruce can hardly hold himself and he tries not to show that in his face. He intimidates her with a low growl, "How dare you touch my things, which part of offence on privacy intrusion you understand?," Diana, still under his grip, raised her voice, "Excuse me, you are the one in my room now". Bruce lost his grip. 'Her room? The Bridge! What am I doing in her room? laying on her bed?' as he thought he wandered his eyes around and finally lingered over her towel covered frame, slightly revealing her assets to his imagination. 'Was she just clad in a towel all this time? Why am I talking within myself? Why does the room feel like spinning?'. His head starts to hurt again, he struggled to stand on his feet and breathe. His thoughts started to derange. Bruce slipped. "You have to rest Bruce, the potion is very strong, it will increase your heartbeat dangerously if you try to resist, " Diana caught him on her lap. Resting his head Bruce still tried to interrogate, " Wh…," his throat went dry and his tongue collapsed. His vision narrowed only to her face. And she said, " It's okay, Bruce."

> Bruce once again falls into the dark pit. He is free falling into an abyss. His head hits the surface and rings from the impact. The hole is a cave, he can see clouds passing above. He can hear a screeching sound and looks close inside the darkness around him. A small Bat flies on the edge. Quickly and unexpectedly, without any warning a colony of bats emerge from darkness and besieges him. He cries from fear, as the bats torment him. He closes his eyes and hears the flocking sound exaggerate more. The Smell of bats nauseate him. He opens his eyes to face them but he is in the theatre watching 'The Blade of Zorro'. Bruce looks at his younger self watching it in horror with his parents sitting side by. Bruce knew what was going to happen next? He tries to stop them from leaving the theatre. The Small Bruce begs his parents to leave, Bruce reflects at it by crying, "No. Don't leave" and run towards them. He can't stop them, they left. He runs behind using his muscle memory. He hears a Gunshot and a woman scream in terror. Next second, he hears another Gunshot. Bruce yells, "Mom!, Dad!". In the alley, he finds his parents lying cold and small bruce mourning over them in dread. Bruce again screams, "Mom! Dad!," as he runs towards them. He Slips on the floor, he can't pick himself up. He cries louder, "Mom! Dad!"
> 
> He tries to get back on his leg, a giant Bat grabs him from the floor and takes him away. He sees the city of Gotham beneath him. The Bat accelerates more and drops him at the tower of League of shadows castle. Bruce is free falling in the air, he screams "No…." He falls in front of Ra's al Ghul's knee. He kicks him away, Bruce slides on the ice sheet and surrounded by the league of shadow members. They launch themselves upon him. Bruce covers himself, as they beat him to pulp. The Ground beneath him opens, Bruce falls again in the abyss. He drops on the electric chair with wires connected to his head. He hears hysterical laughter echo and the current passes on the wire. Getting electrocuted, he howls in pain. The hysterical laughter continues. Bruce gathers himself and breaks the chair using his strength. He takes one step and slips. He experiences the free fall again.
> 
> His head hits the floor, he sees Bane and Bronze Tiger tag-teamed waiting for him. He gets up, but this time he runs toward the apprentice. The apprentice laughs at him and reveals his true self. He opens a portal in between them. Bruce accidentally jumps into the portal, entering a magical dimension. He gets a kaleidoscopic vision of himself as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. His instinct guides him around and he enters into a piece of black cube. It feels so peaceful here. Bruce inhales and exhales as in meditation. As he inhales full, his nostrils fill with an exotic fragrance. He breaths in again, he can smell Diana. The Black cube vanishes, he is standing in a moving beautiful cloud. He eyes a Queen sized bed covered with fresh red roses. He can smell Diana nearby, it is a playful routine to find her. He gets close to the bed, the scent is intoxicating. He is getting a hard on. He hears a latin music slowly fading in. He turns around to see Diana, waiting for him to join the dance with her barefoot. He scoops and drops her on bed. Butterflies are flying around them. Now, they are both naked and hot in bed. He can listen to the music and starts making love to her. He groans "Diana.." as the sensation hits his nerve making love to her soft and gentle. The Music starts to pick up. Bruce increased his phase and thrusts into her going to the song. "Diana, you look beautiful…" he moans and goes for the beats. Diana encourages him with a scream and moan. She is actively following his lead. Now, he plays her so raw and intense. He continues to moan while the pleasure is filling in his belly, "Oh! Diana...".and sees her beautiful face shining with delight. She is enjoying this dance as much as him. Her hands are everywhere on him. He keeps playing her passionately as they both reach their high point of dance. He grasps her lips with his and holds them that way for some time. Dragging it for painfully heightened time, they both had a release at the same time. Bruce fills her, as she's overflowing him.

Bruce slowly frees his eyes, he can see the roof clear this time. His breathing is regular but his mouth feels dry as a desert. The pain in his body is relaxed and his shirtless torso is covered with thick layers of sweat. Laying there in the comfort of white Duvet on a warm bed, he can recall his racy dream. The Dream felt so real. The hardness of the relish is still in his system. Bruce slowly gathered himself back to reality. He feels a slight discomfort in his pelvis area. Bruce has spent for real and needs to get changed.

"Are you feeling better now?" to add more to his discomfort he sees Diana is still in the room. She is laying on the sofa, reading the book 'Little Women'. She must have cued from the noise that Bruce is awake. Bruce felt so embarrassing in this situation. At least, the Duvet saves him from an unexplainable awkward situation. Diana, putting her book down, walks towards him with concern on her face. Bruce stares at her with all of his eyes. she is so beautiful in her Black tank dress - just like in his dream. She mixes a liquid and offers him in a glass, "This will help you with dehydration".

Bruce sits up by covering his lower half with Duvet. The liquid worked as a magic in his mouth. It is a mixture of Finger millet flour and Kodo Millet with mango bits. It tasted as divine in his sore throat. She sits next to him on the bed, "You like it?". Bruce giggles as he finished, "Yeah, never tasted anything this good before". His face adds disturbance. He can't delay it. He completed his question this time, "What happened?". Diana opens up checking on his wound, "You were in a state of blackout and then I found this in your pocket." She shows him the injection in her palm and adds, "You are shot with Hermes serum. It is used to tranquilise Spartans and redeemed Warriors in ancient Greek." Bruce takes the injection and examines it closely. Diana continues, "So I brought you here and applied Aphrodite as antidote. It worked! Your heartbeat returned normal. But Aphrodite is supposed to put you in a prolonged state of deep sleep. You managed to awake!" Bruce flatly said, "I am sorry for that".

Diana goes, "hmm?" with a vague expression. Bruce extends, "for my behaviour," and gulps his flowing embarrass. Diana repudiates his grief, "It is the serum, Bruce. Hermes and Aphrodite are strong potents, they will disturb the chemicals in your system. You mixed up the emotions as you experienced both good dreams and nightmares during your half-sleep." Bruce can now understand the cause of those visuals in his dreams. "I heard you crying Mom and Dad repeatedly. So, you are not yourself. Don't feel sorry for something you can't control" Diana consoles him. 'Wait, she heard him sounding in dream. Did she also hear him moan her name?' Bruce's thoughts raced but he tried to go easy on him. He recovered his monochromatic form.

Diana stretches her arm handing over his watch. She tried to justify, "I tried to contact your peers, but I couldn't. I think it is gone". Bruce eagerly gets his watch and explains "Thanks, It is designed only for my access." He taps the watch and Interface blinks in deep blue ray. Diana watches it in awe. Bruce checks the time it shows 15.25 afternoon. Bruce realises he is late for something, "For how long have I been laying here?" Diana tries to guess the hours instead she goes "A Day." Bruce registers he must be in Gotham by now, interrogating Bane with Gordan. Bruce arouses, "I have to go now" but he can't move or slide the Duvet away yet. Diana is still close to him, watching him indistinct by his actions. Then he remembers to ask the most important question to her. Maybe it is the right time, he asks her rigidly, "Who are you?".

Diana stumbles by the question and the way he asked. Before she could reply, Bruce in a brisk goes, "Who are you? You ain't from here, right? I mean you are strong. What are you doing here with Intergang? If you are one of them, why bother saving me?..Who are you? Where are you from? What are you doing here?" he throws at her. Bruce felt indifferent for his usual interrogation method but he is a little emotional here.

Diana is deep in her sereneness. She doesn't know how to start. She blankly mentions, "I am Diana from Themyscira''. It is hard for her to go in depth detail about her origin to a stranger. Bruce questions back, "Themyscira? I have heard of no such place? Where is it?". Diana bothered to detail more. She slowly raised her voice, "It is because we hid our Island from men's world". Bruce took some time to process about this Island hidden in plain sight. There must be a reason for them to do it. Bruce understands her state of mind, he assures "Listen, Diana you saved me. I owe you one back. I may help back by sending you back to this Island of yours."

Diana smiled with a soft sadness at his remark, "No Bruce, it is complicated. Nobody can enter Themyscira now". Bruce's Detective mind kicks in. So, her mysterious Island is in trouble and she is taken away from. She needs some help and hopes to get back. Bruce presses, "You can. In Fact you should. Tell me about this little Island of yours. Trust me, I can help."

Diana unwinds, "We are Amazons, a race of warrior women. Themyscira is our only place on this planet. We are ruled under our Queen Hippolyta. We thrived in peace for centuries and remained aloof from the world of Man. One day, we had an intruder, Steve Trevor. We saved him and provided him medical assistance to recover. During his time of stay, Steve earned our trust and respect, we let him walk around the Island free. My sisters are excited to have their first male company. They took him to Hera temple to show around. He had set his eyes on the Mother Box there. when he left, we all trusted him with our heart." Bruce can connect the missing dots, as he heard her narration.

"One day, Steve with other men invaded our Island. We slaughtered many of them in the War. Treacherous Steve distracted us and activated the Mother Box which hasn't activated since the age of Old Gods. A Portal opened in front our temple. Demons from other dimensions unleashed upon us. Even though We fought hard and well, our Bows and Arrows are no match to them. The battle left half our numbers dead. It was a genocide. Demons are headed by DeSaad, the master of torture. He planted a keraía in our temple that radiates Anti-life elements into our brain waves. Rest of our sisters stopped fighting and surrendered to him by the influence of keraía. Themyscira has fallen." She finished with a deep tone of sadness.

Bruce took the phone out and showed the picture of the Square box in the Cruise, Diana confirms, "Yes, that is the mother box. But ours is still in the temple. Legend says there are 5 of them on the planet." Bruce zooms and points to the yellow liquid metal filled in it. Diana clarifies, "Chryo, a fuel that operates Mother box, keraía and their other devices. It is first found as Chryosis, a metal only found in some part of the Earth. It is then moulded and industrialized as Chryo." "Like this?" Bruce asks, showing the picture of the capsule he seized from Bane and Bronze tiger. Diana shed, "Chryosis can be refined and processed in many ways".

Bruce puts his phone back. He has broken the case. Then remembered her. He looks into her eyes and puts his words carefully, "How you ended up with Intergang?". Diana hesitates a bit to confess, "Steve had his eyes on me, since the first time he showed up in Themyscira. After the Battle, I too was under the influence of keraía. Steve asked DeSaad for the founder's fee. I was given to him. Once we crossed Themyscira, I was free from the influence. Learning all that happened, I want to go back and kill every single one of them. But that is not possible. My sisters are still under the influence of DeSaad. DeSaad is torturing them for fun in every way possible. But my Sisters still guard him with their life and I may have to kill them in the process or get killed by their hand. There are very few of us left after the battle. Either way, Themyscira can't be liberated. So, I agreed to serve Intergang with Steve. By this way I can stay close with them, learn their weakness, break keraía and one day possibly defeat DeSaad and liberate my homeland."

Bruce was completely moved by her story. The lack of control Diana feels now somehow resembles his situation on the fateful night of his parent's death. At Least, he had Jim Gordon and Alfred. She hasn't let the tragedy take the best out of her. The Key is keraía. Diana could have killed Steve and other Intergang members, but again she has to combat hand in hand with her own sisters and the same Demons. Bruce admired her. Diana looks so young but her accumulation of immense amount of knowledge and exceptional perceptiveness makes her the wisest and one of the most emotionally-intelligent person he has ever met.

Bruce gets an incoming in his watch, "Master Bruce, I am worried. Reply back". Bruce hides his watch and bids an excuse, "I am sorry, I have to go". Diana nodes like it's okay. Bruce pleads, "Would you mind, If I use your shower for refreshing, I stink badly." Diana grants him, "Not at all, Please." and then she remembers, "I tore your t-shirt to dress you. I can give you mine, it is a unisex."

Bruce gets cleaned in her shower, he washed his inner and reworked his pants. He comes out to find a white floral roses pattern pocket Tee. He controls his mind, he knows where they are taking him next. He wore it, without a second thought. He gets to Diana, who is continuing her Book on the sofa. She smiles at him, "It suits you well". Bruce's thoughts drifted back and forth to his dream and her story. Truth is he can't just walk away from her. He painfully utters, "Thanks! Thanks for saving me" and leaves immediately.

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Bruce on his way back to his room surprisingly notices no one gives him an eye. Since being disappeared for a day, he expected the tension he created in Staff quarters to find its way back to him. But nothing, He got away with it. He has to talk to Alfred as first thing and then he has to find Rhonda. He left her abruptly hanging in the middle of night.

Right in front of his room, "Mr. Wayne!", Steve Trevor addresses him. Is he here for Diana or the Staff quarters? evaluating his tone, Bruce acknowledged him. Pretending like he didn't get his name(new name) Steve offers his hands, "Charlie, Charles Brown. You danced with my girlfriend". Bruce shakes hands with pun, "You mean, You danced with my girl first". Steve chuckles at his remark and reveals his concern, "I didn't catch you guys after, Wanna get a drink?". Okay, this is about Diana, Oh possessed Steve! thought Bruce. He tried to convince him, "Look , that was just a dance. You know, for fun..," Steve giggled to stop him. He explained, " . . It is not that. After I saw you leaving with that Dark beauty, I knew…. you are.. a…pr... a ladies man..So..," he crosses his hand suggestively like it doesn't matter anymore. Later that night, Steve trailed him afterwards and the eventful night with Rhonda cleared Bruce from the radar of the Staff Quarters affair. Steve articulates, "This is something. A Proposal , I am sorry for bringing the subject of business to you at this leisure time. But, A Business of your sort is never off-duty. Isn't it?. Join me for a drink, Let's talk Business."

Bruce inwardly embraces the idea and cool-headedly agrees, "Sure Mr. Brown. Let's talk Business."

They entered the Bar reserved exclusively for guests of Grand Suite-level accommodations. It is 4 in the afternoon and Bruce could hardly spot anybody in this reserved accommodation. He settled in a grey cushion single comfort sofa facing Steve. They have Oval glass teapoy in the middle, which has Steve's laptop and files ready. Bruce ordered, "Kummelweck and fresh-pressed panini". Steve indicated, "At this odd hour Mr. Bruce?". Bruce flatly expressed "I am hungry!" pushes the caterer to make them fast. The only thing he had the whole day was the drink Diana gave him.

Steve canvassed, "Mr. Wayne. If you allow me, Let's talk Business," Bruce nods. Steve demonstrated, "Mr. Wayne. I took the liberty of checking your background. You seem to be a very serious and promising Businessman. A 25-year-old CEO. Impressive! But correct me, if I am wrong. You inherited this resources from your forefathers. You are a six generation Businessman." Bruce nods as a sign of approval. He is not uncomfortable with the fact that his Great Grandfathers were the one who found fortunes and he just happened to inherit. His confidence comes from his own significant contributions to the growth of Wayne Enterprise.

Steve remains unappeased. He presses further, "I checked all your Claim, Liability insurance, Coverage, Peril, Premium, Risk, SR-22 and FR-44. I must say 'very solid' for an American Company in the American soil. But, what if there is no America tomorrow? Or this Planet we took for granted? Or at least its System of Approach? Those Insurance means nothing but a piece of printed papers." Bruce's detective mind kicked in. Steve is hinting about something more than exploiting the resources of Earth. The Case is reopened.

"Any questions, Mr. Bruce? You seemed to be little weary," affirmed Steve and waited for his response. Bruce ridiculed him back, "Are you high Mr. Brown? This planet is all we have. Nothing is going to happen to it." Steve abruptly stops him to confide finally, "The world changed when Superman flew across the sky. We are not what we were in the past. Now, we have Meta-Humans, Aliens, Monsters, Masked Vigilantes, Crooks, Giants, Demons and the Justice league. What if Superman wants to be the dictator of this planet. Do you think any of us can stop him? A Thanagarian invasion, We will lose all our moral conducts. Lantern corps! They can create their own fortune and wipe our financial structure like a sand castle. Martian, that guy can brainwash and make us all his slave. Think Mr. Wayne, how safe are you? Do you really think you are safe with all these capitals and possessions you are gifted with? History is every time, every single time, any revolution, any reform, it is always the rich who shed the first blood. They are hanged, shot, burnt and even massacred with stones publicly. 1% privileged controls 40% of the resources. Papers print it everyday. And you Mr. Wayne falls in that 1%."

Bruce is still unshaken. He challenges Steve indifferently, "What do you propose ?". Steve was told that Bruce is a hard man to crack. He inwardly agrees with them now. Steve redirects his laptop towards Bruce and delivers, "Allow me to introduce The Elites' guard.

We yield complete security to you and to your Business. We have tie up with some exclusive parties and we serve only premium customers. We can keep guard on your Elite status forever. In fact, with our membership we make sure 80% of your wealth stays with your lineage given any circumstances." Bruce gets that appealing, no Businessman can resist this proposal. He enquiries, "How?" and stops it.

Steve delayed his response to provoke a curiosity. He presents, "We have made some arrangements. Our partners.. " Bruce interrupts in the middle, "were big enough to kill Superman!," Steve inwardly chuckles and just discloses "You have no idea, Bruce." and leaves the rest to his Imagination. But Bruce sealed all his reaction. Steve gave up, "I can't tell you much, Bruce. You don't think of it as a thing at all. It is obvious you don't believe us. That's okay! Let me tell you something, this Cruise now carries 5 of the world's top 25 richest and I went to their doorsteps personally and told them the same thing I told you now. They took the leap of faith; Likes of yours agreed to come all this way. You know, what? You have to meet my Boss. He can handle this tight head of yours. We are going to meet him today. You should join us. Don't miss this right set of circumstances. You have no idea how lucky you are to be on our Cruise. "

Bruce breaks in, "What do you mean by your Cruise?," Steve with a smug replies, "You are sitting in our Cruise, Mr. Wayne." Steve puts on a little show around while Bruce goes, "What?" as a notion of surprise. Steve proclaims, "Yes, yes. This is what we have already. We have a very impressive list of clients with us already. You are coming with us. Talk to my Boss. This is only for premium customers, you fit right in our profile." Steve can sense a triumph as Bruce is awestruck already.

Bruce with an unwavering reaction gives in, "What time is the meeting?" Steve with a prizewinning smile replies, "Present yourself at 6 in the yacht point. We will take off-route on a small boat trip. It will be fun, trust me! and Bruce, welcome to The Elites' guard."

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Bruce called Alfred and told him everything about the Mother box and Chyro. They agreed mutually that Chryosis is really what his enemies are after. Chryosis needs a refining process like petrol to actually make it usable. He informs Alfred to check on all potential petrochemical factories and any purchases recently in large numbers. If he can uncover the list of Industries and Business running under The Elites' guard program, he can seize them and the intrusion of their enemies can be prevented. This meeting can possibly open up more information. Bruce installed a three step transmitter, which can penetrate any kind of jammer. It uses a traditional way of radio analog signals. Using that signal Alfred and Justice league can track him anywhere in the world.

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The Yacht takes an off-route from the Cruise. Steve and his crew are showing high time to their Billionaire guests. With Bruce, there are 5 more guests in the Yacht. Bruce has wired their details to Alfred on the way. The Yacht is filled with drinks, drugs, strippers and also a private room for each and every guest. Cocines, injections and sex workers made the Yatch conjusted to walk across and sounded like an X-rated Adult Club. Bruce is shocked to see Diana coming along with them. She is wearing a Susanna floral embroidered dress and her bracelets stand out as usual. With Steve around she professes their last meet and Bruce carried on with that act. Bruce can see Steve is protective of her, even from his valuable guest who tried to flirt. The Yacht anchored in the middle. Bruce used this chance to come out to see a small Island ahead of them, completely off the radar. The Yacht resumed in a slow phase towards the Island after receiving a clearance. Bruce can see a building structure raised in the middle of the Island. The forest lands are clearing on the sides to raise more concrete structures. The Yacht docked its little harbour. Bruce notices a dozen of hi-speed motor boats anchored in that mini-harbour.

Diana secretly muttered to him, "Don't drink anything" and joined Steve. Bruce looked around the Island. It is impossible to pinpoint this location in Pacific Ocean. The Guards there are mostly Meta-Humans, some of them are retired Wrestlers and Boxers. Some held a powerful gun in their hand. There are more than 200 of them on this Island. A tight security for an uncharted Island. Bruce's detective mind kicked in - This is the headquarters of the Intergang.

In the entrance of the concrete building, their smartphones are taken. Bruce was also forced to surrender his watch. Then they are provided a Welcome Drink. Steve induces them; it is a traditional drink of this Island made from coconut; a symbol of hospitality and pure. Everyone takes a shot. Bruce just keeps his glass in the hand. Right in front of them is the Big zinc door. The Entire building is made with Zinc blended in. The Guests are taking another shot of the drink, intoxicated by its taste. The Door opens, a short man enters. He looks tough and his head strong. He wore a thick mustache and carried a cigar in his mouth. Bruce immediately recognises him as Bruno Mannheim - the Head of Intergang.

"Hello! Everyone, Hope you all had a wonderful time in my Crusie," Bruno welcomed with his strong voice. Steve joined by his side and he walked him to shake hands with each and every guest. Bruno wishes "As-Salaam-Alaikum Mr. Baashha", Steve introduces to others , "Highness Anwar Baashha, The Sultanate of Jabar kingdom". They move to the next person, Bruno greets "Witamy Mr. Mikael", Steve adds, "Mr. Mikael Blomkvist is a Polish Media Conglomerate" then to the next person, Bruno goes, "Namaste Mr. Kamal", Steve adds, "Mr. Kamal Kant is the Richest Indian and a successful Businessman." then to the next person, "Benvenuto Mr. Benigni", Steve elaborates, "Mr. Remigio Benigni owns the second largest confectionery brand in the world." then the last person, Bruno bows, " 欢迎 Mr. Lee" Steve adds, "Mr. Lee Sora is the Chinese General of Shandong province."

Bruno stops in front of Bruce. The only uninvited guest. Steve comes forward and introduces, "This is Mr. Bruce Wayne, American. Leading Businessman and Industrialist. Mr. Wayne is ranked 24 in Global Fortune Index. He is interested in The Elites' guard program and eager in meeting you personally." Bruno looks in his eyes and slowly smiles as he agrees, "Of course!," and shakes his hand "Welcome Mr. Wayne". Bruno notices the drink is still in Bruce's hand. He insists, "Finish your drink and join in." Steve presses, "That's our Welcome drink Mr. Bruce. Try it, you will love it." As everyone's eyes are on him including Diana's, Bruce gulps the drink in one shot to avoid a scene. They entered the room, while Diana and other guards stopped outside.

It looked more like a Boardroom. Bruno started the presentation and went through the same thing Steve told him. Once he is done, Mr. Kamal raises the question, "What do you guys charge?". Bruno without taking his attitude, "Mr. Kamal, We don't need your money. We are talking about power. The Fee is 50% of your company's production will be under our control. Meaning, we need Guns, Artilleries and other defence equipment to run this society for you. So, we will use the resource and knowledge of your company to develop the prototypes, to produce and manufacture these Hi-tech weapons and other spares which are critical for our programs."

"And how do you exactly propose that?," enquired Mr. Lee. The Drink is already taken him. Bruno laughs, "Simple. Release 70% of your labours and hire the people we refer to. They can take good care of your Business and also have eyes for our needs." Mr. Baashha interrupted, "My Country men will lose their job, if I hire only your person". Bruno cleared him, " We have people all around the world. We have 1.5 million people right in your kingdom".

" I didn't get it? When you guys propose 80% of our wealth will be unaffected, How are you going to do it? You show pictures of Alien, you spin tales around the Justice League, How can you guys work on the promises you made?" Mr. Mikael is the only person thinking straight as of now.

"We have a tie with a far more superior race not only in this realm but in all of the galaxies." Mr. Kamal added, "Elaborate on it" before Bruno can finish the sentence.

"Our Partners are the most advanced race in the galaxy. They are very aggressive and have destroyed 100s of Planets and Stars in the Spectrum. They can invade us anytime but they like our little planet. They don't intend to destroy it. Instead they like to embrace it. They can take on the Justice league, they can wipe all your competitors out of business. Then, it is all Monopoly. Your generations will serve as Elite under their occupation. We are the only source of contacts between them and the rest of the Earth. That means power. All you have to do is, just listen to us. Now sign those agreements in front of you and accept The Elites' guards". The drinks have sedated everyone completely. The Guests have lost their processing skill.

Meantime Bruce has planted the first bug under his table. He staged a weird scene by clapping and laughing heavily. Bruno and Steve though maybe the drink could have made a bad trip in his system. Bruce laughed so crazily, that other Guests got influenced and they laughed along with them. He knows how mind manipulation works. Steve is the first person to counsel him, "You fine, Mr. Bruce?," Bruce sounded even louder and laughed at Steve, manipulating the Guests to laugh that way. Bruce chortles, "Mr. Bruno?" Bruno unexpected his call. He controlled his anger in front of his guest, responded coolly "Yes, Mr. Wayne". Bruce changed his tone to serious, "Mr. Bruno, are you dressed for Halloween? you look like a Duck swallowed a Hippo," he cackles at his own drollery. The Guests imagined Bruno as Duck with a Hippo in his stomach and burst out with laughter. Bruno gave eyes to Steve. Steve tried to control his personal guest, "That is very funny, Mr. Bruce. Let's concentrate on Business." Bruce interrupted again in a serious tone. "Business, oh you said Business. You 'overgrown pangolin' want to talk Business. I am a sixth generation Businessman. I'll teach you how to talk Business. Come here" he dares him. Steve steps closer to him. Bruce demonstrated, "Take this document like this" Steve listened closely. Bruce again changed to his comic tone and jokes, "and shove it your back. and then Let' talk P…e..e. esiness!" the guest banged their tables with heads and hands as he demonstrated.

Steve calls for the guards, Diana and others show up. Diana can see Bruce is behaving like an absolute clown tearing the documents and showering it in the air. The Guests followed him, tore the document the way he did and scattered it into pieces. Steve orders Diana, "Help Mr. Bruce here, He is not feeling well. Take him outside, will ya?". Bruce stopped his action as Diana neared him. He turned to Steve, "Mr. Charlie, I love your British accent. Come on sing a Rhyme for us" and Steve irks, "Take him away please," Bruce starts to sing, "London Bridge is falling down, falling down…" The guests chanted the familiar rhyme along with him. The Guards took Bruce in their hand and dragged him to the door. He forced himself before the exit and stopped singing. He looked at Bruno, "I am sorry Mr. Bruno. By the way, who helped you with the bowtie? Mr. Bruno your hands are too short to reach for the bowtie. You helped you with that? I know, your Partners helped you with that. The Superior race.." he made a suggestive hand gesture near his belt. The guest went completely nuts as they got the meaning and rolled over the table. Bruce tactically evoked a bad trip to the drugs in their system. It is gonna take a lot of time to suppress their laughter.

The Guards dragged him outside. Diana held Bruce's arm. He looked at the Guard on the right side. "Yuck! Is that what you call a beard? Oh my god! Is that really your face or you have eyes under your armpits" and he laughed alone. The crude remark offended the Guard. They brought him near the entry point and tried to make him rest there. He heisted his Watch from the counter as he went on mocking everyone in his sight, "Hey! I saw you in Wrestlemania. Your ass got beaten by a 4 foot ninja, right? Does it still hurt when you sit?". The Guards around are aggrieved by his action and Diana finds it hard to keep him one position. Bruce planted a second bug meantime at the appropriate distance to send the radio signal. He tried to piss on the orchid they kept for decoration. The Guards pushed him away. Bruce wandered around and fled the Concrete building. Diana joins him, as it looks like anytime he will fall and collapse. The tension raised in the atmosphere as he fled the Concrete building. six guards followed Bruce and Diana. Now Bruce needs to plant the third bug in a right distance to transmit the signal. He kept walking like he was above to throw up. He looked at Diana and other Guards following him.

An Idea strikes him. He looks at Diana and whistles suggestively "Look at you, Oh My God! You are so delicious. How did you even get into that dress?". Diana was stunned when Bruce grasped her hands and pulled her close. He flirts,"Walk with me". She is clueless as they walk along the beach side. He started to recites, "It is so romantic. A Night Walk in the Beach on a full moon night. You must be missing that right? Let's stretch our legs and minds. Hear the sound of waves crash. It always reminds me home." Diana all of sudden remembers her home as he mentioned. The Guards can hear him too and shadow both of them as they walk. Bruce kept walking forward and stopped suddenly to turn and scream at the Guards "Give us some privacy you dumbass. Mom and Daddy need some adult time. Go and play with your sister." The Guards are gritting their teeth, if not a Guest he would be dead already. They maintained some distance but still followed them. Diana knows he is intoxicated but why is he trying to bring her memory of home. Diana murmures, "Bruce stop. You are provoking them". Bruce turns and screams at them, "Who? Them! These Stinking Steroid junkies! Sorry, If I offend you. I can donate a protein shake to y'all. Hey Baldy! You want a protein shake" The Guard gave him a killer look. Bruce falls back on her shoulder and goes "Oh! Diana you have no idea, How sweet you smell. Did you plant many flowers in your backyard?" Diana's thoughts went back to Themyscira again. The Beautiful hanging garden she used to play. The flowers she used to suit in her hair. Her heart is melting by this vivid memories. The Guard yelled at him, "Hey! Leave the lady alone" Bruce ignored him. They sat in the bench laid in shore. Diana is speechless. Her eyes envisage Themyscira. she almost forgot how the Beach sand feels, the breeze blow, the rhythm of wave sound. Bruce let her sink in her nostalgia. The Guards yelled again, "That's enough! We have to go back" to Bruce. Bruce murmurs to Diana, "I thought about you, I felt so bad that you were taken away from your sisters. When they needed you most." The image of her home and sisters and the horrors they are going through strikes her heart to bleed. Diana controlled her emotion and whispered back to Bruce, "I told you not to drink anything." The Guards neared them again. Bruce changed his tone dirty, "oh! You have flowers in your dress. I love flowers, Please let me smell them" the way he suggested and sniffed over Diana annoyed the Guards. Unable to bear the sight, they maintain the distance from them. Using this Bruce whispered again, "You trust me, Diana?" Diana looked in his eyes, they are so true and full of hope. She can't still think it through; it should be the drink that is talking. Diana whispered, "You are intoxicated. You have no idea, what are you doing?." Bruce increased his voice, "Oh! Sweet hmmm. Let me smell them again!" He sniffed near her ear and slowly whispered in his normal accent, "No, I am not." Diana shocked at his transformation. He got back to his dirty tone, "Hmmm! Wow. Now, tell me you have flowers in your panty too?" Diana goes "What?", the guard yelled, "I said you to leave the lady alone". Bruce yelled back, "Mind your own Business, Godzilla!"

The Guard lost it completely. He stood there with steam coming from his ears. "Enough of your shit," he rushed in fury and took a swing at Bruce. Bruce tactically bends from him, gets back on his knees, and blows a punch straight to his nose. The mountainous Meta-Human froze for a second before falling on the sand like the tree in the forest. Diana couldn't believe it; Bruce just knocked out a trained assassin with one punch, just one punch. The Guard standby launches himself onto Bruce. Bruce runs towards and jumps at his neck as his knee elbowed the guard's chin. He flew for some time in the air before landing on his face. This alerted other Guards standing around while few of them were carrying the gun. They rounded up Bruce and Diana. Diana is still on the bench. Bruce took a fighting stance, one guy came forward and warned him, "Sir, stop it. We don't want to hurt you!," Next moment, Bruce locks that guy's hand and breaks it, "Even if you want, you can't". The Guards screamed and rumbled. Bruce took two of them by a leg swing and blew a kick in the next guy's abdomen. Diana is watching them fight cluelessly, Bruce is up to something for sure. Bruce gets locked from behind, he leans back to double kick the Guards coming to assault him in front. One Guard is trying to shoot a Hermes Serum at him. He times his turn at the right moment, the serum injects the guy that locked Bruce from behind. He takes away the Serum shooter from the Guard's hand and breaks it by bashing on the guy's skull. Now, Advanced Guns come into play. Bruce jumps from initial 2 -3 shots. At that moment, a Meta-Human blows a kick in Bruce's stomach. This made him jerk a little making him an easy target for Gun's pointer. The Guard takes the shot at him.

Diana jumps before the bullet and stops it with her bracelet. Bruce looked at her in awe. In a flash, she reaches the Guard with the gun, bends the heavy gun with her palm and throws the guy into the ocean. Bruce completely lost his senses. Diana moves completely 180 degrees and takes on the other guy. Then 45 degrees to the next two, all in 2 seconds. She lifts the heaviest Guard above her head and throws him at the Guards approaching to stop her. Bruce gets back on his knee and chokes the Guard in his close proximity. He fights his own way on the remaining Guards. Bruce and Diana came fighting and stands-off with their backs touched together. Bruce can hear the alarm ringing, he knows what that means. He can see nearly 100 of those Guards are rushing towards them. "We have to go!" he informs Diana. Diana steps one step closer when the Guards are just 15 feets away and strikes her bracelet together. The impact made from it created a wave that pulled those Guards flying backwards. Bruce takes one of their Advanced Gun in one hand and grabs Diana's in another. He rushed towards the mini-harbour. Using the gun, he damaged the ships docked there just leaving out the one near him. Diana could see something was approaching in the Sky. Bruce tells, "Quick! on the Boat now". Diana gets on the Hi-speed motor boat. Previously, Bruce had planted the third bug on the bench. That has completed the circuit to evoke the Radio signal to pinpoint the Island.

Bruce launches Hi-speed Motorboat in the sea. As he is going away, the Justice league used Bruce's 3 point tracker to pinpoint the location of Intergang's headquarters. Bruce can see Superman and Supergirl are leading in front and Green Lantern, Martian are following them. Bruce turned off the lights in the boat and hid under the zinc steering and asked Diana to do the same. Justice League crosses them in Sky and doesn't notice Bruce fleeing away. Diana looks at the flying people on sky surrounding the Island. She asked Bruce, "Who are they?" Bruce replied, "My Team!". They could hear some Gunshots in the air, Superman and Supergirl fighting using their heat vision. "Why are we hiding from them?," Diana is confused. The Battle is happening at full throttle. Bruce gets up back and launches the Boat at full speed and replies to her, "I am not hiding from them, I am hiding you from them". Diana couldn't understand "Why?", Bruce replied her, "To take you home!"

The Motorboat blazed in the ocean and disappeared.


	4. The Messenger

# Chapter 4

## The Messenger

Gotham Central Prison is guarded from all 180 degrees for 2 mile radius. Jim Gordon has doubled the security in the fore-end of Bane's ward. The highly guarded prison is lighted with beams and flash near the fence and walls. All Cops are given Guns and shot-at-sight order. Inside the Prison, a Cop in his mid-40s is on rounds. He enters the Isolation ward where dangerous inmates are locked. He stops in front of a cell and takes out something from his pocket - A Tiger claw. He slides it to the inmate and again continues his rounds with all cheer and satisfaction.

The Footage from that CCTV camera is streamed directly to a highly advanced Aircraft. It is in a triangular shape with round angles at three corners. The Aircraft is hovering above the prison to scan the prison using infraVision. The infraVision goes left and right before it stops to mark a figure waving a laser in the shape of Omega. Computer commands 'Horsemen Confirmed and Location Marked'. With that the Aircraft drops an explosion *Boom* over the building.

The smoke raised for 50 feet in air. The fire power cracked a big donut hole in the roof of Gotham Central Prison which is consumed by flames. A bug is thrown at the CCTV damaging its network. Guard Dogs barked in chores from their kennel as the smoke alarm hit their nerves. Many inmates and cops died from the first contact of the explosive. Others are stuck in the catastrophe.

Bronze Tiger emerges from the debris. His claw shoves in the Cop's throat who is still holding his position amidst the chaos. This is his extraction mission. The Aircraft now aims and shoots the Cops at sight as their infraVision penetrates the clouding smoke and fire. Gotham Central Prison is destroyed brutally.

Bane has woken up hearing the explosion. He tries to peek through the spaces between latches in his shielded prison. Draining his cold sweat the door starts to slide open. Bane is alarmed to see Bronze Tiger at the other end of the door standing with two guards. So this is the arrangement. Bronze Tiger asserts, "Let's go Brother!".

Bane and Bronze Tiger stormed forward and they attached every single Cop on their way. The Aircraft dropped its height and 4 Intergang members jumped from the Aircraft to fire the remaining Cops who were unarmed and running for their life. Using that Bronze Tiger and team slipped into the Aircraft. The Aircraft elevates and launches at force in the sky.

The Wild fire is eating the rest of Gotham Central Prison.

Inside the Aircraft, a team of Intergang welcomes them. Their face is dull and in a sour tone they inform him "Our Headquarters has been attacked by the Justice League, Sir". Bronze Tiger in complete shock goes, "What?" That has completely changed their Prison break mood. Guy in the front replies, "We are working on that sir. They've got our Head Bruno Mannheim. Now Charlie Brown has stepped in for him." Bronze Tiger Still unsettled, "you mean Trevor?" as the latter adds more suffer in his heart.

A tabloid is submitted to Bronze Tiger, "Charlie wants you to see this video,"and plays the Indonesia forest fire coverage. Bane watches the video closely, it shows Justice League saving people from the fire and then a wide shot of fire Aerial angle. People are mourning in Hospital tent. Bronze Tiger grasps the information inwardly. This frustrates him again and jerks to remember, "Where is the Mother Box now?" they replied, "Safe!" and informs him, "Charlie wants to talk with you". Bronze Tiger looks at the video repeatedly. It's clear to him, they have a new competition.

Bane sits in the comfort of the cushion bench. He enjoys his borrowed freedom with the Intergang and looks around the Aircraft. He checks at the special weapon kept for showcase. It is a handy gun and 6 inch perimeter. Not a Bullet type, more like a blaster type. Curiosity pulls him towards the weapon. Bronze Tiger stops him before he touches it. "Be careful. That is a eBlaster. A blast from that is enough to poke a hole in the mountain". Bane chuckles inside his iron mask. He finds it silly, how organized and disciplined the gang held themselves. For him, Intergang always looked possessed. He wishes internally to get rid off them and be on his own way soon.

"So what's next?," Bane queries. Bronze Tiger still looking at the forest fire video, "I don't know! There is a change in leadership." and he openly confesses, "I am waiting for my command brother. Probably we will be ordered to assemble somewhere in secret". Bane goes, "Everyone!" that means all of Intergang and Bronze Tiger confirms, "Yes!" and is informed he has a call.

Bronze Tiger gets the Transceiver and walks to a private part in the Aircraft. Bane has been hired by many terrorists and separatists. But nothing is as secretive as Intergang. Not only did they take a risk to extract him from the highly secured prison, they went ahead by destroying it completely. He wonders what they are unto, knowing that now the Justice League has attacked their headquarters and captured its key people.

Bronze Tiger comes back tight. He orders the gang in a deep authoritative tone, "Send a message to everyone. We all have to Assemble." Bane interrupted him, "Where?". Bronze Tiger slowly turns to Bane and with the slight change in tone informs him, "Not you. You have another mission." as he says he walks near the Blaster kept for showcase. Bane inquires, "What mission?" Bronze Tiger takes the Blaster from the showcase, "You'll be our Messenger Bane,"confused Bane goes, "A Messenger! To wh.." before he completes Bronze Tiger turns and takes a headshot.

Blood splashes from Bane's helmet and his brain is scattered everywhere. Bronze Tiger looks at the mess he created orders, "yuck! Clean this and undress him. Dump him in the ocean and make sure his body reaches the shores of Indonesia". The Gang acts. One Guard removing Bane's outer jacket recalls, "Sir, regarding the Assembly?" Bronze Tiger remembers that part again and finishes it this time, "Send a message immediately. Everyone should assemble with their toys in 2 days to the old Gotham Harbour. "  
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Blue Beetle and Booster Gold are still cold. Parademons are guarding them while a wizard is reading their brain waves. He sucks all their knowledge and memory. He visualises them all in his head. That is when he comes across their secret service with the Justice league, finally an information of significance he can pass it on to his Master.

"Master Kalibak!", the wizard to his master who is on the stance of the cave. Kalibak growled in his low tone, "Yes! Glorious Godfrey''. Godfrey opens up in a humble tone, "Master Kalibak, your Brother must have figured out our unwelcome visit by now." Kalibak ignored to answer him, "hmmm!" like he doesn't bother. Godfrey elaborated the situation, "He can easily find our location by the mass fire caused by our landing" kalibak opened his mouth to reply, "Let him". His attitude completly pisses off Godfrey who is also an Elite and loyal servant to the throne. Godfrey develops the courage to address his concern, "Master, We are not supposed to be here. This planet is your Brother's seizure. Your father sent us to Dalinoore..," agaited Kalibak fired his words in fury, "My Father betrayed me by sending me to Dalinoore. That Star is nothing but frozen nitrate. There is nothing out there. Look at this planet, it is full of Life. My father openly favoured my brother over me, Godfrey. I was always suspicious about his intent. Now it is clear who he wants in the Throne of Apokolips when he takes on New Genesis."

Kalibak takes a small pause and he declares, "I am his first born, the legal heir to the throne. I can't allow anybody to take something that belongs to me. Even if it is the lord of Apokolips." Godfrey takes a step closer and explains, "Your Brother already has two Mother Boxes, Master Kalibak. He is half way into establishing a reign. General Steppenwolf should already be digging for the third one. He has DeSaad and Granny Goddess, it looks like we are rebelling against Apokolips's Military unit. Our lord will consider this as an act of war." Kalibak dismissed that fact as of little importance, "My Father doesn't give a shit! Since he eyed New Genesis again, nothing matters to him. My Brother needs three Mother Boxes to establish a reign and all five to bring this planet completely under his regime. If he gets that, he gets Apokolips. I am just going to make sure he gets nothing."

Then Godfrey pointed out Blue Beetle and Booster Gold explaining them, Who they are and about the Justice League. He asks Kalibak, "What to do with these clones, Master?". Kalibak orders him, "Just do your thing and send them back. They can lead us to Steppenwolf."  
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Bruce is sleeping on the portico bench outside the room. He and Diana ended up in Svarana Islands with a diesel left in the motorboat. Svarana is a small Spanish island by the Mediterrian sea. He traded the Hi-speed motor boat for a room in the only hotel on the remote Island. Last night both stayed in-doors, while Bruce slept on the uncomfortable spring sofa facing the old bricked wall. In the Morning, he gave the room completely to Diana and continued his nap on the bench on the hotel floor. He heard the door knob sound, he guessed Diana is ready so he can have his turn in the shower. But Diana comes out wearing the same big double XL pink checked pyjama shirt- the hotel gave her but a turkey towel wrapped around her waist. She walks past him in a hurry. Bruce stops her as she is above to descend the cement steps and asks her in his still lying position, "Hey! What happened?".

Diana casually dropped, "I am bleeding". Hearing it correctly, Bruce threw back on his knees. His head hit the roof from the jerk, "What?" he rattled. Diana not getting what makes him so hyper anxious, "I am bleeding, I need something to cover," Bruce goes uneasy again and tries not to show any gross faces. He goes near explaining to her, "Look you can't go like this and ask any random person for a tampon". Diana goes "Why?" That's how she used to ask in her Island. Bruce mentally pictured how awkward it will be but then he tries to convince, "You know what? Get back to the room and I'll go get you something." Diana finds it silly, " I can handle this"' and takes a step down and Bruce jumps again, "No!". This woman makes his life harder by every second since he met her. He presses, " Please! Trust me, Let me handle this." Diana comes to his level and asks, "You sure?" Bruce without looking her straight in the eyes assures, "Yes. And be ready. We are leaving as soon as I get back."

Bruce leaves the hotel. Svarana is a remote fishing island. It has hardly 300 people, 5 streets and a harbour with a lighthouse. His personal aircraft has landed in Turkey which is a 3 hours ride. Svarana doesn't have a departmental store system. All goods will be stored in a limited number by small shops in the corner of the street. People have to ask for the things and then the shopkeeper will deliver it. Bruce reaches a corner shop. He sees two Spanish ladies minding the shop. He can't decide whether it is going to be hard or easy by looking at them. One lady is completely occupied by a small television on the left side and the other lady is by the counter where one has to order.

The Lady by the counter gets up to her customer as a sign of respect to attend him. Bruce can hear the TV sound, " *Yo no soy marinero Yo no soy marinero Soy capitan Soy capitan Soy capitan*…tv screeching…..American Businessman Lex Luthor is still missing….. tv screeching.. ...*contemplando la ciudad Porque te vas*….Every year in Africa….. *Me gusta el fuego, me gustas tú*….". He approaches the lady and she asks him fluently in english, "Good Day Caballero, What you want?".

Bruce rubs his head twice and hesitates to put out straight. The Lady looks at his red face. Bruce opens up, "Good Day to you too Miss, Actually I am here to buy something for my friend. It is kinda weird.. " The Lady stops him. She declares "I got it. Tell me the size number" and she goes inside to take a plastic container in her hand. Bruce trying out to guess,"hmmm... Anything long and comfortable." The Lady gives him a weird look which makes him more uncomfortable. She informs him, "Only plain, no flavours. Okay?" Bruce nods like who cares. She asks again, "10 packs or 30 packs". Bruce grew tired of her questions in a helpless tone, "30 packs is fine" She hands him over and says "That would 3 Euros" Bruce looks at the condom pack she gave him. He chuckles inwardly and utters, "It is a Condom pack!". The lady confers him, "Yes! You asked for it!" Bruce re-argues this time with confidence, "Lady, If I want a condom I would've asked for a condom." The lady criticises something in Spanish and mocks him, "You become nervous seeing me. You were scratching your head and you told me you are buying for a friend. That's how every little Gonzales buys condoms here in Svarana." Bruce replies back to her mock, "Well, The friend I mentioned is a girl." and hearing that the lady instantly goes, "Ahh. So you want a pink dildo." Bruce wants to bang his head somewhere, "No!". This is getting harder than he thought. Bruce finally confesses, "My friend is bleeding and I am here to buy a Tampon, a Pad or something," just as he flushed out, the Lady's face goes dead and remains that way for a brief time.

The lady laughed so hard that her store started to quake. she calls her friend who is watching TV and remarks, "This Gonzales is here to buy sanitary pads" and again she laughed with her friend as cheeky as it annoys him. Bruce stands there and smiles like an idiot. She adds, "You could've told me in first place na, what is a big deal? Every woman bleeds.." as she goes in and takes another plastic box. She asks "anything specific?". Bruce, completely relieved, answers her, "Yeah! Anything with flowers will do". Right then, Bruce gets an incoming in his watch.

He turns to the other side and reads it in secret. It is from Alfred, "GCP under siege! Watch News". He humbly asks the lady, "Can you please switch it to a News channel." The News channels live telecast the attack in Gotham central prison. The Prison is bombarded and surrounding areas are burning in fire.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Bruno Mannheim is waiting in the interrogation room. He has severe burns in his body. He tried to kill himself along with other Intergang members who weren't expecting a surgical strike on them from the Justice League. Their Headquarters was demolished in the attack by their own explosive which Steve Trevor detonated. Most of the Intergang members fought in the front line, while others destroyed all the evidence and backup about their operation. They even tried to play a hostage situation with their clients in captivity, but Green Lantern's ring formed an impenetrable shield over their sedated guests and lifted them up in the air.

Supergirl and Martian Manhunter hunted those who tried to escape but Steve Trevor still managed to escape. The Intergang headquarters is burnt to ashes along with the woods in the forest. Finally Bruno Mannheim and his gang are captured. Bruno is brought to Watchtower, while others are locked in a cargo ship that belongs to Oliver Green.

Waiting there, Bruno never uttered a word so far. He didn't even ask for a glass of water since the attack. The lights in the room turned on. Superman entered.

Superman sits before him and releases his hand cuff and body shield. This is the first time Bruno sees Superman close or any other League members. He observed how close they all look to humans, especially Superman who looks more human. He holds his tongue firmly not to respond to any of their questions.

Superman asked, "So, how's your fasting? I just had mac and cheese. It's wonderful. You just have to ask?" Bruno sat like a stone. Superman continues, "Okay. Let's play it your way." He shows the picture of the Mother Box, Batman sends them and asks, "What is this?" Bruno unmoved. Superman again, "Where it is now?". Bruno remained the same. Superman kept on interrogating in one way,"Who do you guys work for?", "How did you guys get those Advanced weaponry?", "What are you guys up to?", "Who are your friends and partners in this mission?", "Where are your other members?", "Now that you are captured, What happens to your Gang?", "Where is Steve Trevor?", "What were those Businessmen doing in your headquarters last night?", "What was in the drink you gave them", "How much money have you guys made so far?", "What was the deal that got your Gang 'Melody Of Seas?", "Is Missing Lex Luthor has any association with you before", "Is there still a backup of your operations somewhere?", "What will be your next headquarters?", "What are the weaknesses of your friends/partners you guys work with?". Burno didn't even blink his eyes Superman deliberately paused for 30 secs between each question until he got impatient and moved to the next question.

Superman looked sideway and asked, "Did you get everything you want? I am so sick of this solo performance." Martian manhunter reveals himself by the side of Bruno and nods, "Yes."

Bruno is horrified by Martian's sudden appearance. Martian was standing and reading his head even before Superman entered the room. Glad to hear it, "Done. Thanks! Mr. Bruno for your cooperation. It was so helpful." and Superman Leaves. Bruno tries to stop him, "Wait! I didn't cooperate." Martian Manhunter on his way out assures him, "Mr. Mannheim you will get your beef stew with potatoes exactly the way you like. But Smoking is prohibited."

As both Superman and Martian locked the interrogation room, Superman asked him, "What was it?". Martian just replies in his neutral tone, "I need some time to progress. I need a full house by 7, no excuses taken."  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Jim Gordon walks through the ruins and remains of Gotham Central Prison. Perished Cops are covered and moving to the ambulance. So far the body count is 24. Gordon stops a stretcher and opens the cover, the Cop has claw marks in his neck. He examined how this Cop has bled to death unlike others who were shot and burnt. CCTV network is found damaged internally. He knows some of his men are corrupt, but most of them he personally recruited have heart and guts to go after the organised crime. They are sons of Gotham. With the aid of Batman and their valuable contribution Gordan made Gotham better than it ever was. He really wished it was him who died in the attack.

He withdrew from the crowd and the media. He seeks a silence in this horror. He collapses in the concealment when he is about to break down. He takes a deep breath closing his tear filled eyes. He is a year away from retirement but now he won't settle until he seeks justice for those who have fallen in his custody. It starts from building a new prison to Gotham. A sense awakens as somebody is standing behind in shadow. Gordon controls the tremor in his voice and asks, "What are you doing in a broad daylight?"

Batman replies, "I have a recording of the Extraction in case you want to explain it to your higher officials and media." Gordon replies by pointing around, "I don't care anymore." Batman responds, "Well I do. You need this job. I need you in this job.". Gordon trembles, "Well, I am commissioner of what? A Demolished Police headquarters and dead cops. This is not an extraction. This is a Message. A Message to Gotham, Message to the world that we are not enough."

Batman assures Gordon, "We are in this together." and elaborates, "And we are not alone this time". Gordon mused by his remark What he means by we are not alone, they are alone! He is alone. It is always GPD and Batman. Gordon raises, "Did you join the Justice League?" and turns back to see Batman has already gone leaving a thumbdrive for him.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
General Philippus on horseback is watching over the mine. Her eyes are dark orange as she is possessed. Amazons are breaking a mountain under the supervision of parademons and of course the influence from keraía. The Mountain is chiselled in the middle; the horses and chariots are used to transport the raw Chryosis to the temple where they refine and pack for shipments. From there it is taken to harbour and shipped to the outside world.

General Philippus follows the pack as a part of a drill. She stops by the palace to account her master about the dailies. The Interior is ruined. The Throne is empty. The entire place stinks of dry blood and rotten flesh. Philippus hears her master in work. She follows the chainsaw sound. An amazon is tied to a metal bed in a spread-eagled position with wires going around. The helpless warrior can do nothing but expose her sculpted muscular body naked in front of evil DeSaad. Her Body is locked by tight belts over her arms, neck, hip and legs and her head shaved bald. DeSaad inserts a transparent tube into her nose opening and turns on the cylinder filled with green liquid. The cylinder pumps green smoke through the pump into the victim's nostril. DeSaad presses another button, the base she's tied on starts to rotate 180 degrees. The Victim starts to suffocate. The nerves in her forehead start to pop in green. The eyes start to bulge and iris sinks in.

DeSaad checks the monitor to read the encephalogram. The Genetic experiment shows thorns spiking in her skeleton structure. As a result her head and its vital organs alter in shape; serosanguinous drips from her openings. The Victim's mouth is wide open but no noise or scream is heard to Phillipus who is an audience by choice. She understands her master has removed his study's tongue and other vocal cords for another cruel experiment. As the base kept rotating, a thorn penetrated from her spine and tore the outer skin. Her limbs and fist are turning black. The blood is flowing only above her heart as a result her head starts to fill and enlarge. All nerves in her face burst out painfully. DeSaad watches the monitor closely reading the sign. The serum is too strong to merge with her blood cells. They destroy them in contact. Philippus witnesses the gory transformation happening to the victim's brain. It starts to bulge in her skull. Next second, the head blows.

DeSaad's experiment failed to even withhold a mighty amazon's head. He needs a much stronger spectrum. He turns to see Phillipus who is waiting close to the wall freshly painted with blood. DeSaad orders her to come near. It is her routine to fetch a new specimen after every gone-wrong experiment. DeSaad points at the left over in the metal bed, "Feed the remains to your sisters." and with an evil grin, "And I want royal blood to decorate my room next."

Diana pulls her face close to the southern Magnolia and inhales its scent. It smells so sweet and fresh. There are a lot of those white flowers in Wayne manor's ground. She continues her carefree walk by the lake. The Evening sky is getting darker by every minute. She stops to see a cocoon of bright colourful flowers hanging from the tree. She touches them delicately and rejoices, "These are wisteria flowers and can be only found in Kawachi Fuji Garden, Japan" She turns to see Alfred standing with a tea and biscuits in a wooden tray. Alfred offers her tea and adds, "But Mrs. Wayne was very keen on having them here in her backyard. So we did reverse engineering in the soil. You should see the flowers in the morning, they will be more..," Diana finished, "Splendid." Alfred agreeably nods. Diana savours Alfred's tea and looks around the ground. She acknowledges the elegance around, "Beautiful! Mrs. Wayne is, was, definitely, a tasteful person." Alfred smiles with a full face. He then informs her, "By the way Your Exo-suit is ready Ms. Diana." Diana with a spot of bother replies, "Oh! I thought we are waiting for Bruce to join" as she rushes to finish the hot tea. Alfred replies, "Master just informed me. He is off to an important meeting. We can carry on. He will join us later by twilight."  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Inside the Watchtower everyone has assembled at the conference room. As Martian asked, it is a full house. Selina is setting up the seating arrangements and checks her watch. It is already past 8, it is already an hour late. But Martian is busy discussing with Batman something in private. They are discussing things like that for the past 3 hour locked inside the lab and other members of the league are restlessly waiting in the conference room. Finally the door opens, Batman and Martian come out to address the league. Selina requests the league to remain seated and put their personal phones on silent; re-announces that meeting is critical. She calls upon Martian in front to brief the league about the meeting.

Martian refuses, "I think we have to start from Batman. He has a very important message to share and I can join in the middle to add on the missing things." Surprised, Selina calls Batman to come in front and address the league. Since he helped with the Intergang, the League now sheds a different perspective over him. Some even started to like him. Just that Batman is not aware of that yet.

Batman begins, "Hey Guys! How y'all doing? It has been a week already. By the way, it was Good job with Intergang. Sorry that, I've to run to stick with my identity.." he looks at Selina who asks him to cut straight to the point. Batman takes a pause and without any restrain he breaks the news, "Humanity is on verge of extinction!," The League collectively goes alarmed by that. Batman tries to settle but the crowd before him. Many are still skeptical from his previous statement. They are discussing among themselves and throwing one or two questions randomly.

Superman is the first one to be coherent, "Who is planning to do that this time?". Batman finally gets a firm, "Creatures from other dimensions. There is a war going on and one of them wants Earth as a base". Zatanna puzzled, "Base? Meaning?" Batman explains, "Meaning they don't want to destroy the Earth instead they want People of earth to serve them. To add us to their regime and exploit Earth's resources for their favour." Flash couldn't grasp everything at once, "They can't simply come and take it. How will they do it?". Batman replies in quick notion, "By making us their slaves. They can take our free-spirits and influence us with Anti-Life Elements. Then no one will be left to question and we will be serving them mindless for their war."

Green Lantern, an expert in intergalactic patrol, "We have to stop them from entering the Earth. Let's Guard the outer atmosphere. I can call the Lanterns to put a perimeter shield around earth. We should patrol all 360 from space. So nothing comes in." Batman puts across the hardest part, "They are already here!"

Martian Manhunter floats himself close to Batman and starts to debrief, "Apokolips is our enemy in this case. Long time ago, a war destroyed the Old Gods and broked the ancient planet Urgrund. The Urgrung is splitted into two new planets, creating New Genesis and Apokolips. The New Gods ruling them separated their planets from the Fourth world and the rest of the universe. Apokolips and New Genesis with their unresolved differences are locked in an eternal war. Our Invader is Apokolips, ruled by a dark leader. He rules over his downtrodden people by force and fear."

The League turned completely silent. Selina can see most of the members are listening keenly to Martian manhunter while Blue Beetle and Booster Gold were sitting with frozen faces. She is not even sure whether they are paying attention or not. They looked completely uninterested and stoned. Martian added, "Apokolips is a high-tech industrial wasteland and only accessible by Boom tube."

Batman adds on, "A Boom tube can be only opened by this." He projects the picture of Mother Box. He elaborates, "This is a Mother Box. After the war of Gods, the core Mother box is divided into five boxes, that way it stays away from wrong hands. Its power is never tested to its potential. Currently our enemy has 2 of them." Supergirl interrupts, "Then, What are we even waiting for? Let's find those boxes and seize them from the enemy's hand."

Martina nodes in a passive way, "That's not are hidden in secret. There is no map or something to track." He deliberately avoided looking at Cyborg when he mentioned it.

Bruce projects the next picture, "But we can track these, Chyro- the fuel to mother boxes and all other Apokolips devices. They are found in someplace on earth. But it needs to be industrialised like petrol. Knowing that, Apokolips hired Intergang to spread terror and lure leading industrialists around the world who can refine this for them. I've got their list. We take on them, we can slow them down. Snatch Mother Boxes from them and if possible destroy it permanently."

Superman asks Martian, "What else you learnt from Bruno? Do they have any list of actions?" Martian replies, "Right now they don't have sufficient amounts of Chryo to open a Boom tube big enough for their fleets to conquer earth. The boom tube converts individuals that pass through to proportions fitting the destination, i.e., when a New God passes from Apokolips or New Genesis to Earth, they are shrunken in size, while someone going the other way would grow larger. If someone somehow reaches the Fourth World by other means, he will discover that its denizens are giants. So, without Boom tube they can't technically establish a reign down here and exploit us."

Vixen understands the situation here, "So they have to get to our size to fight us" Martian interrupts, "Or to influence us."

Batman puts forward, "A small fleet of them are already here by Boom tube. They are scouting for remaining Mother Boxes and mining on some places for chryosis. I propose we divide in teams and go after them. We cut off the supply, they will reveal themselves. We can take them on."

Atom questions for the first time, "You mentioned our enemies can influence us, is it a chemical formula or Hypnosis? We can create an antidote beforehand." Martian Manhunter appreciates his forward thinking but puts him down, "Surprisingly, Apokolips is second only to New Genesis in technological advancement. With their technology, they are the height of power in most of the universe and can devastate galaxies when they choose to use it. Apokoliptian technology is furthermore. The source is unparalleled misery in the universe. That's why they routinely arm evil groups with advanced technology in order to further its influence and misery across the universe i.e., Intergang and Meta-humans for us in this case. Humans are by basic a complex race, their life form is same but diverse in classification. I believe the equation or formula is still not cracked for earth. It takes a lot of observation and best of knowledge from earth. For a unison planet like Hanikuv, where only Javves, a single cell organism live they applied:

_**"loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding × guilt × shame × failure × judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=?"**_

Everyone takes a note of it. Yes, Humans are complex. One thing can't appease all. Very few things can bring all of the people together. Batman now figures out why Apokolips targeted Amazons first. They are in unison race and gender. The formula worked wonders on them. Batman takes a quiet snap and forwards it to Alfred. Diana needs it.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
The Bat vehicle penetrates into the Bat-cave from a backside waterfall. Parking his vehicle in pad, Batman exits his vehicle. Alfred is still on the monitor and acknowledges his master's arrival. Batman removes his howl and puts his helmet to charge. He turns to Alfred who asks him, "How was the meeting Sir?." Bruce takes a towel to whip his forehead and irks, "You tell me, you can hear it all. We just argued straight for 3 hours. Sometimes I find it is a lot easier to fight, Alfred"

Alfred presses, "That's how a team works, Sir. I hope you get used to it." Bruce annoys, "Answering to everyone? I hope not".

Bruce looks around, since Diana is not here he figures out Diana and Alfred have sorted out a plan, "What you guys have come up with?". Alfred recalls with a josh, "She is wonderful! But she insists on doing it alone. We tired out Exo-suit, it fits her perfectly. Her Head guard is installed with a software to reciprocate all kinds of signals from altering her brain chemicals. She denied carrying guns and explosives; just some CS gas." He leans in close and whispers, "I've installed a tungsten coat all over her suit to withstand their swords and archers." Bruce is glad, "Good!"

Bruce asks, "So I just drop her in the middle of the ocean and head back here ?!" His voice is so neutral. Even Alfred has no idea how to take on his remark. Alfred opens up, "We are giving her everything she needs." Bruce remained silent. Alfred adds, "Are you thinking of adding her to the League sir? She is so strong and powerful. You can ask her to stay till … everything is over, she can help," Bruce interrupts, "Not when her home is burning. Her Sisters are tortured and ravished everyday. Diana is their only hope. She must go." Alfred can't help but to agree.

Bruce examines the map where Diana marked it as a dropping point. He utters, "So this is where a mysterious Island full of warrior women hides in plain sight. So close to human civilization, yet no one knows" Alfred nods like how confusing everything is nowadays, "It still doesn't make any sense. I am a man from the nineteenth century. This World is hard to understand." he turns to look at Bruce, "But one thing hasn't changed. Life always finds a way to bring people together."

Bruce chuckles, "Relax Alfred! This is not the first time I brought a girl to the mansion. Besides I think you are watching too much TV nowadays. I should find a way to keep you busy," his eyes fell on the Chryo capsule lying inside the radioactive shield with its lid open. "What are you doing with that?"

Alfred excitedly, "Questioning the potential of this stuff, I stacked one from the case. Now knowing what it is! I want to try and adapt it to our favour. I am adding a pint of it in your bullets and ammunations. Feel free to use them next time when you get a chance and let me know how you like it." Bruce is impressed.

Bruce requests, "Do me a favour Alfred, install my helmet the software to reciprocate the signals. I guess I'll go and bid good-bye to our guest."

Alfred tries to stop him, "It is not a good manner to knock a young lady's room at this hour of the night." Bruce kept walking, "This is my home Alfred, I can do whatever the fuck I want" and breaks.

Bruce knocks the door softly. It is his mother's room in the old manor. No guest ever stayed there. His girlfriends were always entertained in the vista. It has been a long time, since somebody stayed in the old manor. Bruce slowly knocks his mother's bedroom almost after a decade. The Door opens.

Diana on the other end is wearing his old clothes. A big Gotham Rogues jersey as top and an extra large casual loose buffalo plaid pajama Pants. Her fashion sense puts a smile on his face. "Sorry to disturb you this late, just wanna make sure you are comfortable here. Alfred told me you liked the old room. It has been a long since somebody stayed here. I wanna make sure everything is fine. " as he explained hard, Diana opened the door full and welcomed him in. The room is 10 folds bigger than her dorm in the Cruise but still it is old. Bruce looked around, no Air conditioner or a decent chandelier. It is left the way his mom liked; Full of silks with cream marbles and a piano.

"Hmm! It smells good here," Bruce tired to ignore the nostalgia the room evoked him. Diana imparted, "I found a reed diffuser in the draw, Alfred said it is fine." Diana is not sure how he will react to that. Bruce took it easy and inhaled the scent without making it obvious. He queried, "Would you mind If I talk about our mission for 5 minutes?," for which Diana agreeably nodded and asked him to settle in the chair. But Bruce just kept walking towards the window. He peeked outside, the Clouds were clear to take off, no bad weather for the next 24 hours. Perfect for aviation. Leaning on the wall next to the window, facing her, "Alfred briefed about your plan. It is good and effective. But your sisters are as powerful as yours and they are still under the influence of DeSaad. We don't know how your sisters will react. Your helmet can guard from altering the brain chemicals, but your sisters can harm you physically"

Diana knows someone will ask her this question. She concealed her inner thoughts and just voiced, "No. They can't harm me Bruce. It is me, who can harm them. First I have to break the keraía, then my sisters will join me in the battle."

Bruce presses, "I can aid Air-support. It is not just your sisters. DeSaad has a Mother Box and parademons." Diana refused his offer. Without a second thought, "Last time we let a Man in, he took everything from us. Whatever it is we will fight back on our own," Air choked in Bruce's throat, he stopped himself from saying that Amazons lost fighting alone the same enemy and lost half their numbers. With a little hesitation he uttered, "You can't afford another genocide in your Island, Diana."

Strong headed Diana implies, "That's not going to happen. We undervalued our enemy. Last time we fought to defend Themyscira. We lost. We are humiliated. Themyscira fell in the wrong hands. We are chained and tortured. Tomorrow, we will fight to free Themyscira. To break our chains. To end our misery. To our survival. We are a race of warrior women and we have defeated Gods. We know our enemy now. These monsters and the beasts deserve nothing but carnage. Our enemy will witness the wrath of Amazons. No one will be spared."  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Bane's body lies in front of Kalibak in pale. His giant body has swollen as a result of floating for hours. Glorious Godfrey is standing next to him. His troops identified the Omega emblem carved in the floating corpse. They brought it to Glorious Godfrey, their commander to examine. Bane's broad back has a message carved to it, "If you leave now, that will be the end of it. If you stay, I will kill you. I will kill you all. All your families and your friends and their families. Go back brother. Go home. Earth is mine."

Glorious Godfrey raises his voice slowly, "Your brother warns us. His message is direct and clear. What do we do now?"

Kalibak with his eyes burning in fire, "Sent back a message. Make sure he gets it fast." as he roared the cave echoed and the forest quaked.  
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Bruno Mannheim is sleeping inside the Watchtower Containment Facility. Suddenly the lights turned on. The high beam disturbs his sleep and he hears some footsteps coming near. He opens his eyes to see two shadowy figures in the computer. The Containment facility door slide opens.

The lock in his hand is released. He finds it hard to focus on the high beam. One guy enters in and takes him by the shoulder. Bruno can now identify it as Booster Gold. Blue Beetle is closing back the facility and joins them. They drag him forcefully. Bruno panics, "Where are you taking me? What do you want?"

They open a door to the hangar, where the Javelin and other vehicles are parked. Today after the long meeting most league members are scouting on earth. The monitor duty is scheduled to Blue Beetle and Booster gold as default. So nobody is there in the watchtower.

Bruno looked at their face, they looked possessed. He knows what that means. Bruno begs, "I can give whatever you want. Let me go. I can pay you guys a fortune." No response from the duo. Blue Beetle locks Bruno from behind. Booster gold takes out a laser and starts to carve something over his clothed stomach. Bruno growls in unbearable pain. His howl echoes continuously.

Booster Gold finishes his task. Bruno bleeds, "What the fuck! What do you guys want? Why are you torturing me like this? Let me go" as they drag him towards the evacuation chamber.

Bruno can figure out what is about to happen. He cries out, "No. No. Please. Don't kill me." he is bleeding all over his stomach. He whines, "Please! Please don't kill me. Take me back. Contain me back in the facility. No. Don't kill me". Blue Beetle opens the evacuation chamber and they throw Bruno Mannheim out in the open space, all bleeding and without an oxygen mask. They close the chamber and return to their living quarters.

The lifeless Bruno Mannheim drifted in the vast expanse of space. A portal opens and sucks him in. The cosmic radiation didn't decompose his body but his skin is breached harshly. He was discovered with frozen blood, no water and bones wasted. All his hair shrugged and tooth scattered. They kept him in a tray covered. They all looked gigantic in scale. Everything around is way bigger than how normally it should be on earth.

They uncovered his body for their master to see. He reads the message encrypted in his stomach using a scope, "After I am done with you, I will bury you in history, Grayven."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes:
> 
> Good that it turns out as a comparatively short chapter. I can use this opportunity to address you guys personally. First of all, THANKS. Thank you for taking your time to read this fiction. The Number of views I've got is something beyond my imagination. Special thanks! to folks who left their valuable feedbacks. I am Improvising, I guess. Coming to the plot, are you guys getting a knack of it? It is right now 3-4 layered story but eventually it will all fall in one place. If something is not clearly narrated, let me know I can rectify via upcoming chapters. I am open to suggestions please don't even hesitate to criticise. I missed writing action blog for this chapter. It turns out as very conversation and scene oriented chapter. I can make up it with my next chapter "The Battle of Themyscira" which will be one full-fledge battle scene.
> 
> So how 2020 is dealing with you all? Is anyone hyped as me for Snyder's cut Justice League?


	5. The Battle of Themyscira

# Chapter 5

# The Battle of Themyscira

The shoreless ocean is reflecting the sky. It is jewelled with stars under the moonlight. The Bat glides effortlessly in the sea wind night. Bruce is wearing a brown jacket, a white polo t-shirt and jeans. In the crystal clear sky, he is flying without a destination, quietly in the corner of nature. No ship or plane travels this part of the world so he loosened his reflexes and enjoyed the silence of the peaceful night.

Right behind him, Diana is seated in a skin-tight black Exo-suit. Her hair is loose and her bracelets are shining indifference to the Exo-suit. From the moment they boarded, She is in deep-prayer. She bid her grateful adieu to Alfred who is her couturier for the Exo-suit and for his extended hospitality. But for some reason, she never thanked Bruce so far.

Bruce can hear her murmur in ancient Greek but he couldn't decode it with his detective mind. Diana saved his life on the Cruise. All he wishes is her earnest requests are answered.

He drops the Bat close to the surface of the ocean. Making it easier for Diana to dive.

Diana slowly opens her eyes as she senses a plunge in the level of height in flying. She can smell her home. It makes her more anxious. The fate of her clan lies in her hands. She prays one more time wholeheartedly, "O Great Hera. Stir up my strength and fight for us. Hearken unto my voice, O Hera, when I cry unto you; have mercy upon me and hear me."

Bruce enables the horizontal stabilizer and hovers above the surface. The Turbulence from the Bat disturbs the calmness of the ocean. He opens the upper deck window and feels the sea breeze brushing his hair. He turns back to see Diana locking her headgear which covers her forehead till eyebrows and backhead complete. Now completely suited she looks at Bruce whose eyes infiltrating hers.

She is overwhelmed by multiple emotions. Her eyes are failing to hide her inner turmoil. Maybe at a different time, she would have hugged Bruce a good-bye or kissed him in his cheeks. Not now, she raises from her seat. Taking one last look at Bruce she deep dives into the ocean.

The water splashes from the consequence moisten the Bat on its sides. Diana vanishes beneath the surface of the infinite ocean. Bruce stayed that way for some time. No trace of any land around. The tranquil ocean is stretching towards the endless horizon. His muscle memory closes the hatch.

The Bat raises above and gradually heads back to its base. Though they never uttered a word to each other since they started from Gotham, Bruce kept checking Diana continuously through his rear mirror. Her beauty is addicting to even his level of training and control. He checks the rear mirror instinctively now, the back seat is empty. no ancient Greek chanters. The ambience is deep, quiet and alone. The ocean's solitude resonates with Bruce as he slowly returns to Gotham.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Parademons are circling in the sky. Six of them are orbiting the Tower of Themyscira guarding their Evil master. Diana reveals from the bushes. The black exo-suit works flawlessly to camouflage in the dark. She now realises the head-guard is working wonder as she can think clearly and exhibits her plan of action.

The Hera Temple has not been lit. The Grasses are wild. Her Island has changed a lot, its beauty has completely faded. In fact, the whole Island feels plagued and soul-less.

Right side to her is the Hera Temple where keraía is rooted. But straight to her is the Palace, where DeSaad and his forces reside.

Diana goes through unrest about whether to go after DeSaad or keraía. The plan she made with Alfred is to break Keraía first, But she can't let the Evil Desaad to take the next breath in Themyscira. His very existence puts their race to shame. Ultimately only killing him will liberate the Themyscira.

She from her knee dashes towards the Palace. It is her Palace, the very place she was born and dwelled. She knows all the way through how to get in.

She reaches the hindquarters and sees the tree that she planted stretching till her room on the third floor.

Diana gradually climbs the tree like in the old days she used to, to avoid getting caught from her mother after a long swim with her sisters. Just as she reaches the first floor, a Parademon scouting in the air comes close by. Diana stops moving. The Parademon takes something from the top branch of the tree and carries it away.

Diana again continues to ascend upwards. She reaches almost below the apex of the tree, the young bud where the new leaves sprout. The pointy end is parallel to the third floor.

The tender branches meet at the tip of the tree, It should be climbed with proper balance else it will incline in one direction and will break.

Diana was about the scale forward, she heeds a chirping sound. It is a rainbow Lapwing. The bird leans its neck to see Diana clearly.

Diana looks at it and beyond it to glimpse that the poor bird has nested in the very branch she is going to mount on. So, this is what the Parademon came to loot. The Eggs of rainbow Lapwing.

The mother bird has hidden its last precious egg in the nest. But if Diana ascends on the branch, it will be disturbed and the nest will drop, breaking the last egg.

Thinking that Diana holds the tender tusk hard. The tusk starts to crush from the pressure applied. Immediately she has to move otherwise the tree will break.

Diana understood the situation she got herself into. She looks at the mother bird which is looking back at her.

Diana has to plan differently. The third floor is at hand's reach but she descended down and grabbed hold of a strong branch. She guides her eye above and glares at the terrace which is another two floors above.

She should somehow get to the terrace. She bends the branch-like bow. Her legs placed firmly in the bask, she squirms her spine curved like 'C'.

The Mother bird looks at her in awe. She is using all of her flexibility, her back head almost touches the branch. The Crack in the branch starts to expand.

Diana releases her legs from the branch and launches herself like an arrow. The Mother bird's eyes follow her flying in the sky from the upshot.

Diana spreads her hands to the edge of the terrace and grabs it with her left arm. Parademons in the tower can hear the blow.

Diana looks down to see that the Tree, Bird and nest are safe. It bestows her gratification. She pulls herself up and lands softly on the terrace.

A shadow falls on the empty terrace, Diana turns to catch a glimpse of a Parademon. Parademon stretches its legs to snatch her. She missed it with her fast reflexes. She observes in the sky that parademons are lining up to attack her.

The next one launches onto her, Diana bends and moves away. She then turns back and runs up the wall, flipping back to knock the parademon on its top. The parademon crumbles from the whack. This alarms other Parademons about her power and strength.

Parademons shape a circle around her. six of them, each one at one direction, all eager and wild.

They all take-off at the same time towards Diana. she dives over to the floor and misses them all at once. He twirls her complete body and imposes a flying double kick on the packed Parademons. They scatter and break the pattern.

Two of them open to discharge the energy blaster at her. Diana deflects them with her bracelets. Hitting by their own firepower, Parademons clears out in the sky bleeding and drops again to invade her.

She grabs one Parademon from the air and strikes the other using her immense strength. With her super-speed, she shifts to the other side to knock with an elbow punch. Breaks the other one by ripping it into two pieces. All at wonderful sync, almost effortless. She takes the energy blaster from the ground and shoots at the final one at its core. The last parademon booms to green liquid and splashes everywhere.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
CS gas propeller plummets near the Amazon guard at the entrance of the courtroom. The gas expels and floods the white smoke all over. Another one container plunges near the throne, enclosing the entire room in thick white smoke.

Diana walks out from the gas in her black Exo-suit. She lands near the throne but to her surprise it was empty. Right then, She hears a devilish laugh echoing in the air. "I know you will come…" the voice echoed in an ominous way. Diana looked through the smoke. The voice began again, "You have come all the way to die here with your family" and cackles. Diana looks everywhere. The smoke uncovers a metal bed with all wires going someplace. Diana remembers it is a torture pad DeSaad wields on his sufferer.

She shouts, "I came to kill you, DeSaad." swivelling in all directions. DeSaad from the first-floor viewing area retorts, "then you have to go through the first". The smoke excavates the courtroom to reveal a legion of Amazons with their spears edged at her.

Diana is horrified to see General Philippus is heading the legion. General commands, "Get her"

The Amazons procession in rage towards Diana with their spears. Diana backflips to avoid the preparatory attacks. But get slammed by latter blows from the back. Her Exo-suit shields her from the sharp spears. Diana displays her acrobatic skill by slipping away from lethal blows of her sisters. She stammered to hit her sisters back, particularly General Philippus.

But Amazons in influence didn't hold back and fought with the same tempo they were used to. knowing her power, Diana just pulled them away and threw them to corners. Diana danced around with an empty hand, which impresses DeSaad more. He would love to have her in the torture pad. Serum may work perfectly on this specimen. Meanwhile, Diana is struggling to slip from her sisters as she is cornered. She is not fully prepared to hurt her sisters. She broke the pointy end of the spear and used the remaining stick to fight back. She rotated the sticks at great speed and created a gap between her and her sisters to move forward. She broke their weapons pointing her and pushed them away without hurting back.

The combat continued more than DeSaad wanted, he howled in annoyance, "Enough. Clasp her in the bed"

Diana is double-stick spinning in the middle, a lasso slips on her neck and yanks her back. She drops the sticks. Her legs are clamped from the front when she tries to revolt. General Phillipus encircles her lasso over Diana's hip tight and seized complete control over her.

Diana is tangled, she is thrown over the metal bed. The machine locks her core region of hands, legs and neck.

Diana screams at her sister as she is clasped force to the metal bed.

DeSaad takes down the steps towards the hall. He succeeds with a devilish grin towards her. Diana tries to challenge her way out. She looks around how her sisters pave the way to Evil DeSaad. They step away and bow to him.

DeSaad stages next to Diana as he enunciates, "This is going to be fun!" Diana closed her eyes tight and concentrated for a second. She has to release her leg. She must release her leg. She can release her leg. She uses all her strength to break the lock on her leg. The metal gives up and cracks.

DeSaad embarks to lock her again, Diana blows him in the face using her knee. DeSaad is thrown away 10 feet off. Before her sister fetches her, she should free her hands. She focused on her dominant left hand, the lock brakes. She released her right hand and wiped out the lock-in her neck. Her sisters tried to stop her, they threw their spears at her. She pulled them all away and hopped from the bed to flee through the nearby window.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
As she gets down outside of the palace, arrows launch to strike from open spaces. Diana trots off from them. Amazons are experts in hunting, Diana withdraws from the palace trail and strives for shelter in the wilderness.

She can hear horses on the prowl. General Phillipus has sanctioned full scouts to take down the deserter. Diana's Exo-suit shielded her from the assault so far. There are small cuts in her palms and wrists. She can lie low in the dark only till the twilight. Themyscria will be sparkling in the dawn, making the palace and temple virtually difficult to penetrate. She has to kill DeSaad and break Keraía within the following 2 hours. If not, outcomes will be terrible.

An arrow stabs the bask of the tree she is lurking. Diana turns to see Artemis on a horse. Artemis has peak human level strength, speed and reflexes. She is a master hand-to-hand fighter combining many assimilated fighting techniques and a proper match to Diana.

Diana pleads, "Artemis of Bana-Mighdall, you are a renowned warrior. I am Diana, We used to train together in warfare at the Colosseum. Remember me?"

Artemis takes another arrow from her keeper and aims at Diana. Diana flips to miss the bow. Gawking at her manoeuvre, Artemis dashes forward with horse and blows a swing at Diana with her bow. Diana hops over by stepping on the horse to miss the bow. The Horse throws Artemis off and collapses to the ground. Diana touches down missing from her and the horse and starts to retreat.

An equal in resilience to Diana, Artemis pursues her. She chases her in the wilderness, while Diana displayed free running and parkour at great heights. They stage a cat and mice fight in the jungle. While Diana doesn't want to hurt her friend, Artemis catches her out. They both roll down descending a Rocky Mountain.

As time is passing by, Diana warns her friend, "I don't want to hurt you Artemis. I have a national duty to perform. Stay low, please don't make me do this." She crosses her hands in the fighting stance. Diana is done with running away. She recalls Artemis can withstand one or two of her smash.

Artemis moves to assault, Diana blocks her movement and twirls her legs to blow an uppercut on her jaw. Artemis defends herself. She dives over Diana and locks her head to impose a chokeslam. Diana gets a hit, jumps from back to feet in no time.

Artemis takes a front kick with her right leg, Diana catches her leg and pulls her in to knock her by a blow on the neck with her dominant left hand. Artemis gets back on her leg. She turns to receive Diana launching a classic flying sidekick. The bang pushes her back meters away.

Diana comes after her to strike another front kick in her abdomen to weaken her core and lifts her by the shoulder to drop her heavy on the ground by the face. Picks her again to slap her on the ears and finishes her off with an elbow kidney punch.

Artemis can hardly move after that, she declines on the ground. The energy blaster fires around her; Parademons caught them from the air.

Diana again flinches to the mid-forest. Her hunt intimidates the wildlife in the forest. The rabbits and deers gallop for their life as Parademons blaze the forest with their energy blast.

At the end of the forest, she reaches the dam. The reservoir is full and blocked the river to mingle in the ocean. She jumps to the crest to cross the boundary and heads to the uncharted area. Parademons repeatedly fired at her in open space.

Diana runs zigzag to avoid the blaster. A blaster shot near her side leg and threw her off the crest. She slips to the dry spillway. Parademons opened fire at her while Diana defended herself with bracelets. A blast reflected shot the spillway gate. A hole is poked in it. Diana can see water starts to drip from it.

With a full reservoir at the other end, withholding the pressure, the gate crack opens and completely gives up. The water starts to crash down with force. Diana attempts to evade the strong current. The surge is so powerful it washed away everything on its way. Diana is engulfed deep inside the water.

Diana swims towards the surface and pulls her head out to catch the breath. The current keeps moving in one direction towards the sea. Even in the dark, she can see the land before her ends and water descending down a steep slope forming a gigantic waterfall.

Diana makes an effort to swim back the opposite current, a trunk of the tree bumps her abdomen and she is carried away with the flow. She takes the plunge on the gigantic waterfall.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Diana gradually opened her eyes. She has washed away to the shore. The sky is still vague. She awakes and glances around. She is in the reserved area, uncharted jungle to conserve the fauna and flora.

Her Exo-suit is worn down from the impact of the tide. Diana breaks free from it. She is wearing a black tank top inside. She navigates a path in the uncharted jungle and sees a light in the far end of her sight.

It is a prison-like set up in the open with a tree shelter forming a cone shape and fireplace. Diana can get a glimpse of a thin person with long white hair locked in chains and facing away from her direction. She couldn't believe her eyes. As she approached, the voice invited her in, "Ahh! finally, we met".

Diana is stunned to hear an old male voice. The person turns and reveals himself to Diana in the firelight. She immediately takes a fighting stance and enquiries, "Who are you?".

The person takes a nice long look at her with his old and warm eyes. He exclaims, "You have grown!"

Diana without releasing her stance, "I asked who are you? What you are doing in Themyscira?"

The old man displays the chains he has fastened in and mocked, "Nothing much".

Diana inches forward inside the cone and observes the chain which goes deep inside the earth with its end unknown. She asks, "How long have you been locked here?"

The old man smiles at her naive question, inwardly he doesn't even know the exact answer. He concludes, "Since the day you were born".

Diana perplexed, "What? I was not given birth. I was made from clay."

The old man chuckles hard at her remark. He stops himself from giggling and concerns, "Is that what your mother told you? You are made from clay! That crazy woman.." He thought something to himself and chuckled hard again.

Diana irked by his mock, holding her fighting stance, "Stop laughing at my mother. Otherwise, I will break your neck."

The old man mumbles something in ancient Greek and responds, "You have your mother's fire" Diana burns out, "Stop talking about my mother. You know nothing about her."

The old man in a neutral tone resolved, "I know her better than you child. In fact, I know her better than anybody in this universe."

Diana can deduce wisdom, she pleads again, "Who are you?".

The old man answers back, "The question is who are you, Diana? Why did you never ask that question to your mother?".

Diana mystified, "What do you mean?"

He answers, " I mean you are not created from clay. You are born like others. Born from the union of love. Union of your mother's love. My love."

Diana couldn't believe her ears. She drops her stance and sees the guy in front of her in amazement.

The Guy nods his head in an agreeable way, "I am your father Diana. I am Zeus, the king of gods."

Those words send a chill in her spine. Zeus, the king of gods. What is he doing here tied to the earth in chains? Diana asks him, "Why are you locked down here? You were supposed to be dead, right? I mean does Mother know you are here?"

Zeus replies, "Your mother locked me here, Diana. I am not that monster anymore. I liked to stay in her proximity so I stayed this way."

Diana overcame her emotion and asked the obvious question, "Why didn't you help us when we lost the battle?"

Zeus retorted, "Because it is your destiny to move out of Themyscria."

Diana points, "like a slave?" Zeus answers her, "You are my daughter, Diana. You can't be locked in chains" as he said his chains rattled.

Zeus pauses and reacts gently, "You're destined to bring both the world together. You are doing that exactly." Pointing at her Exo-suit bottom and tank top from the outside world.

Diana cries, "While my world is burning in fire. My sisters are ravished, You want me to fight for the outside world?"

Zeus puts down his setback, "You are looking at the same peephole your mother saw the world. What did you learn with your time in the outside world! It is one single planet, Diana. You are born to make it better. You have to reach out to the rest of the world and help us all together to save this planet. That is your destiny."

Diana couldn't affirm it presently. She takes some time to sink that in. Flashes of the outside world come to her memory.

The darkness starts to fade. Diana recalls her mission. She confesses to Zeus, "But first I want to save my sisters. I want to make sure this place gets back to what it was before."

Zeus advises her, "Then go and fight them." Diana goes, "How? I will hurt my sisters."

Zeus elaborates, "You are fighting with both your arms tied sweetheart. Blood will spill in war."

Diana tries to propose, "I can't kill DeSaad and break Keraía after dawn." Zeus informs her, " You can. You are my daughter, Diana. You knew what you are now, right?"

Diana hesitates to utter, "a demigoddess?" Zeus nods his head in the cross and exclaims, "You are much more powerful than that. Diana, you are a God- killer."  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Diana is sprinting back in the jungle at full throttle. She is moving faster than she ever did. She is flashing in the air taking one step and skips 10 meters to take the second step and another 50 meters to the third step. The question is who are you, Diana? Zeus' words echo in her consciousness. As she runs in a blur, she steps on the fallen hedge and bounces in the air to skip 500 meters in the air.

She lands on her legs smoothly and commences to run again in a blur. The varmints in the wilderness join her in the sprint. But they couldn't hold up with her pace. They willingly let her beat. You have to reach out to the rest of the world and help us all together to save this planet. Diana takes another leap, she escalates above the tallest trees in the forest and smoothly drops to the ground level to proceed with her field.

She entered the crest of the dam, the water is still running wild. You are looking at the same peephole your mother saw the world. She springs from the ultra-speed sprint to pass over the 27 kilometres in length dam. The fresh daylight fills on her. Her reflection falls on the wild water flowing down. Her leap juxtaposes before the sun. Her portrait crosses the orange sun in the sky. She touched her peak when she crossed halfway on the dam. You are fighting with both your arms tied Diana. She glides smoothly in the air and covers the dam to land on her knee. Her father is right. She never learnt her potential. Diana, you are a God- killer.

She arrived at Pantheon tower, which comprised the "many gifts" that the Gods gave the Amazons. Parademons are prepared before the tower. Diana launches herself onto them and hits her bracelets together. Parademons splashed in the atmosphere as green liquid everywhere. Diana jumps, in one full leap she breaks into the tower.

The most recognizable weapon in the showcase is 'The Magic Lasso of Aphrodite'. Diana breaks the glass and takes it in her hand. The Magic flows in her palm. She rolls it carefully and worn in her hip

There is a shield in the armoury. The shield has a concentric circular pattern around its rim with several inscriptions. She wields it in her hand. It fits perfectly and easy to move around her body. It can defend her effectively. Just that moment, something from the corner of the room twinkles in her eyes.

Diana moves closer to a revolving golden mound. In the middle, a mighty sword is mounted - 'The Sword of Athena'. The sword which was created and wielded by the Olympian Goddess of the Wisdom, Crafts and Strategy - Athena. Diana steps in and takes the sword in her hand. The Sword of Athena is an incredibly sharp and durable weapon. It is likely also magical in nature.

Diana wields the sword in her hand and her eyes follow the inscription carved in a form of Greek on the blade, which translates to English as follows: "Life is killing life all the time and so the goddess kills herself in the sacrifice of her own animal."  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
It has been hours Diana fled. DeSaad has lost his forbearance. He wanted somebody as powerful as Diana for testing the Green serum. He ordered the Amazons to shield the Temple of Hera, where Keraía is planted. He ordered his Parademons to fill Motherbox with Chryo in case things go wrong.

He stepped out and prepared the tent outside the Palace, so he won't miss anything in the fight and he can enjoy watching the combat seated in his throne. But still, he didn't hear anything about Diana. He orders General Phillipus, "Bring her mother and sister". General passes the command to his legion to bring the Queen and her younger daughter in chains. Two Amazons are sent away to carry on the order.

DeSaad hears a sonic beam in the sky. Things start to tremble around him. The quiver settled back. He raises a question to his Parademons, "Idiots! What is that?" A sonic boom is heard again, this time the buildings start to rattle. Wine from DeSaad's hand spills. His throne wiggles extremely and he tries to clinch the grasp to lessen the tension. Possessed Amazons glanced at the clear Sky, something is closing them. The Asteroid like thing bangs on the ground with a massive jab. The Impact is so powerful it knocks everything around. DeSaad is tossed from his throne. The Dust lifted from the collision drapes the source.

The Smog clears to reveal Diana in the shield and a sword. DeSaad orders General Phillipus, "Get her!". Diana swivelled her sword at parademons, the blade ripped 4-5 of Parademons in one go. She defended herself from her sisters using the shield. The impenetrable shield breaks their spears and pulls them away inverting their own momentum. Diana wielded the Sword and Shield as a champion warrior. There is nothing with the opponent to match her. She was unstoppable. She carved her way to the Temple of Hera. She shoots her lasso and swings inside the temple. General Phillipus and her force pursue her.

The temple is guarded with amazons in front of Keraía. Diana swings her lasso and jumps to the wall. She strolled on the wall around the circumference booting everybody on her way. She soars higher and using that elevation she dives closer to Keraía.

General Phillipus locks her behind and pulls her away from Keraía. Diana gets back on her knee. She defends her with a shield from Phillipus' sword. They indulge in intense sword fighting, while the rest of the Amazons are yanking Diana down from behind. Diana takes a cover and points her sword to stop her. It is her final warning to General Phillipus.

Phillipus jumps onto Diana, Diana uses her sword to divert her assaults. She corners and takes a combination of swing to withdraw Phillipus's hand from the sword. Phillipus takes out the mini knife and swings to Diana's neck. Diana flaps back and stabs the sword in phillipus's gut. Phillipus slips to the ground with blood spilling out her mouth.

Diana rolls to Keraía. Her left hand with sword goes right side to Keraía and right hand with Shield to the left side. With Keraía in the middle, she slashes to cross her arms. The Shield and Sword break Keraía into pieces.

Amazons halts for a second, something pulls out from them.

Diana looks around her sisters who stopped fighting her. She sees General Phillipus on the ground and takes her in arms, "General!" Her iris gets back to her original colour. General Phillipus utters in tears, "Princess.." she is overwhelmed to look at her princess. Diana adds, "We can save you" she turns to call for help. Phillipus stops her, "No! Your mother and sister are in a prison bunker. Go!" Diana shook and replied, "Themyscira first!" hearing her saying that phillipus puts a smile and submits to the satisfaction of perishing in her princess's lap.

Diana's eyes coated with tears as the life exit Phillipus's body. She realises something and begs her sister, "We have to stop DeSaad before he opens portal"

They rush outside the temple. DeSaad is not in a tent anymore. He is inside the palace activating the Motherbox. The Process is initiated. Diana sees her Mother and sister Donna among other amazons who got back to themselves and are on the brink of emotional breakdown looking at each other.

Diana runs to hug her mother and sister. They cherish their personal reunion after a tortuous period of time. Queen Hippolyta kissed Diana's temple, she can see how much her daughter has gone through. But their little reunion lasted only for a few seconds. The Boom tubes started to open. Amazons horrified to see the portals opening again. The Same portals that killed half their numbers. The Same portal that enslaved them in chains. The Same portal that they failed to. With Chyro they unearthed in the mountain, the sum of portals opening is greater than the last time. It is opening in all 360 degrees.

The Amazons stared at the doom that was reaching to unleash on them. They can't fight this many numbers. They are physically vulnerable this time and emotionally down. Diana looked around the Boom tubes that will complete anytime. They are never going to make it.

She held her sword, at least they will die in honour. All Amazons assembled on the shore take a fighting stance with their spears, sword and archers. This is their last fight, they knew it. So they are determined to bestow it all. They stand firm. They looked fearless. They are showing their faces to death.

The first boom tube is complete. A pack of Parademon with highly advanced energy blasters evolves. They are pacing towards the Amazons. Queen Hippolyta calls, "Hold" The Amazons are holding their positions. Queen Hippolyta calls again, "Hold". The tip of their spear is hungry for blood. Queen Hippolyta calls, "Hold" Diana takes a look at her brave mother.

The cavalry is closing them. Queen Hippolyta repeats, "Hold" the Parademons takes aim at them. For them, it is an easy target in open space. They will press the trigger any second from now. Queen Hippolyta calls for the final time, "Hold". The bullets from the sky destroyed the first row of Parademons by slaying them.

The Bat slides closer to shore to shoot the next two rows and takes up again in the sky. The complete cavalry slumped and knocked down from it. Bruce loads the next round. He asks the computer to mark the location of a Boom tube about to open. The computer replies "36 places." Bruce asks, "How many ammunitions do we have?" The computer answers back "six thousand rounds of ammunition currently. You can shoot a hundred bullets before reloading."

Bat takes a u-turn to head back Themyscira. Only Diana can figure out the odd thing in the Sky. The second Boom tube is complete and starts to release the Parademons. Having a company in air, Amazons got back their josh. Queen Hippolyta orders, "Amazons Attack!" The Infantry with war cry invades their intruders.

They unleashed the hell on them. Their spears, archers and swords pierced the Parademons' skin. Their swing is so accurate and disastrous.

Bruce fires another round at Parademons. Alfred's idea works a miracle. The Chyro in his ammunition speed is a deadly combination. Another cavalry is down. 34 more to go.

Three portals open at a time, Queen Hippolyta orders "Diana, go after DeSaad. This war won't end without taking him down." Diana realises stopping DeSaad is the only way and She knows where to find him.  
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Inside the Palace, the Parademons are fueling Chyro back to back in Motherbox. Diana breaks open the gate. She slays the Parademons on her way. Their blood splashes in DeSaad's face, who is trying to open his personal portal to flee. He tried to take the motherbox with him. A lasso falls on it and drags the motherbox away from him.

DeSaad warns her, "Give that back to me" Diana shows the motherbox in her hand. "You want this?". DeSaad growls, "Don't play with that woman, you don't know what it is?". Diana comes back, "I know exactly what it is" she drops the motherbox and thrusts her sword in the heart of the box and twists it, the box shatters into pieces and scatters everywhere. The Energy from it dissipates in the air.

DeSaad cries, "No!". The Boom tubes start to shrink. Amazons sensed a victory already. Bruce is pleased to have an upper hand situation. He drove so close to retreat them away. He fired again his rounds of ammunition. Instead, he met an energy blaster explosion in the process. Power shuts low and the Computer informs, "System failure" to show a red alert. Bat is going to crash.

DeSaad looks at the broken Motherbox and whines, "This is not over, we will come back. My Master and I will destroy this Island. We will make this Island the biggest brothel in the galaxy. All your sisters will be our miserable whores. Your race will pleasure all the awful, wicked and slimy things in the universe to survive." He growled in rage before walking into the personal portal which is shrinking.

Diana swings lasso at him and drags him back. She cuts his back leg making him unmovable. She steps on his hand and looks directly in his eyes, "I am Diana of Themyscira.." and crushes the arm that tortured her sisters. She cuts him the other arm, "..daughter of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons…" armless DeSaad howls in the pain. Diana steps on his chest and continues, "in the name of all that it is good…" raises her sword to slash his head, "your wrath upon this world... is OVER!" She beheads him. Only his head chopped off from the body made it to the portal as it closed.  
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Diana comes out of the Palace to see the clear morning sky. The portals are closed. The enemies have retreated. She broke the mother box so there is no direct threat to her Island anymore. She looks at her sisters commemorating and crying emotionally to each other as they worship their victory. The Sun shines once again on Themyscira.

Queen Hippolyta is with her people in this historic moment. Everything happening on the shore looked sur-real. As she comes down the steps, she can hear the chants "Princess Diana! Princess Diana!" Diana stops in the view area and lifts her sword, declaring their Independence. The Crowd raises their weapons in the air followed by their victory cry. They won. They are not slaves anymore. They have liberated their homeland.

This means a lot to them, Diana joins her mother and sister on the shore. They hug each other in contentment. Diana starts to shout, "Themyscira is free!" everyone followed her "Themyscira is free!"

Just as they chant, the Bat crumbles to fly properly in the air. It crosses the Amazons on the shore over their heads. It descends in the quiver. Bruce has lost its control. The Bat crashed at a point where the ocean joins the land. The heavy Bat created a pit around the area it crashed.

Amazons look at the crashed UFO in stillness. They are anticipating to see what it is up close. They are pretty sure that UFO assisted them in the war. Diana runs to check on Bruce. She stops at the shore as the Bat vibrates and makes circuit noises.

Amazons looked closely as the window hatch slide opened slowly. Something is sitting inside it. Bruce heads out with a terrified look on his face. Diana is so glad to see him back. In the delight of seeing him doing well, She has forgotten the fact that Bruce is a full-grown man and he is forbidden to enter Themyscira.

Bruce gets down the Bat and stops to check Diana in a tank top and Exo-suit in the bottom. Past her, Amazons, the race warrior women are looking at him fiercely. They all have their weapons fresh from a battle. They are frozen to see his entrance and the way their princess checks back at him.

Queen Hippolyta can hear somebody recognizing, "It is….a MAN!" Donna staring at Bruce who is standing tall and handsome in the shore utters, "here we go again".


	6. Tryst with Destiny

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings : No violence or action involved. Some swearing words and the lead characters kiss each other.

# Chapter 6

# Tryst with Destiny

_...immediate continuation of the previous chapter…._

Diana glances around her sisters in scepticism. They don't realize the entire story yet. For them, Bruce is barely another man from the outside world. It certainly narrows down to the classification of the enemy.

Diana observes her Mother who is going to eventually decide the fate of Bruce. Bruce now has no place to go. His only way to out the 'Bat' is wrecked. It needs to be fixed.

Queen Hippolyta assesses everything. The apprehensive mumblings among her sisters, the new outsider, his crashed UFO, the way it boosted them in the battle and most importantly the way her daughter threw herself towards the man.

Queen Hippolyta's eyes drift to Bruce. Bruce is sporting white polo t-shirt and jeans. His brown leather jacket is in his hand. She directly looks him in the eyes to address him, "Young man! We will be forever in debt for your brave deeds. We admire and honour your invaluable contribution to liberate Themyscira. My people and I are pleased to offer you a warm welcome." Surprised Bruce mellowed out. Queen Hippolyta is wise enough to comprehend the scenario; Everything happened so far, just by looking at Diana defending him.

Queen Hippolyta conveyed to her people posing with her, "Today we will begin to learn, to look at the world through new eyes; to find out and experience what the world really is like. It is also the day we grow bigger than our differences and offer to everyone regardless of historical rights and wrongs, a friendly welcome, an outstretched hand." She refers to Bruce and once again receives him, "Welcome to Royal land of Themyscira!"

Diana is delighted by her mother's gestures. She extends her hand to welcome Bruce in. Bruce glimpses around the people inshore. Their faces are covered with gratefulness. They lowered their weapons on their Queen's command and exhibited him an agreeable smile. Bruce heartily accepts Diana's hand to pass into Themyscira. Bruce Wayne comes to be the first received guest in Royal land of Themyscira.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
*The Watchtower*

In the interrogation room, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold are sitting opposite Green Lantern who is slamming the desk with his fist. He commands them in a fierce, "Come again. Explain to me everything happened. From the beginning. I want to hear everything". Green Lantern has gone insane by the late-night incident.

Blue Beetle lets out, "We were on the monitor Duty attending to the system regularly. It was past 01.00. I was checking on the Pacific coast and suddenly someone knocked me hard on the back head. It is Bruno Mannheim, he broke out and ambushed me from behind. I swear I didn't hear any footsteps. My Senses didn't stimulate me. The buzzer didn't ring. Next thing I knew was, he was going after Booster Gold. I tried to warn him but I blacked-out."

Green Lantern is steaming inside. How incapable these idiots are. He turned his face at Booster Gold with the same intensity of rage.

Booster Gold recounted, "When I saw him coming after me, I jabbed him over. I knocked him to the floor. I thought I got him and then I noticed Blue Beetle on the base laying out lifeless. Borrowing that moment of distraction he shot me in the arm." He indicates the dressing in his arm.

Green Lantern cools a little bit. At least this lad tried.

Booster Gold resumes, "I still fought him with everything I have. I tried to stop him. He hit me heavy on my core. I slumped. I thought I was going to die. But when I woke up, I realised I failed Justice League. I failed in my duty..." he started to sob in regret.

Green Lantern disgusted the presence of this ineffective B-Squad on the watchtower.

He slams the desk again, "How come all security cameras have no feed on anything happening?"

Booster Gold elaborates on, "If he could open the Containment facility. He can hack into camera systems. Superman and Martian were scrutinizing him in this same room. Their fingerprints are all over here." Green Lantern takes his hand off from his desk instinctively.

Green Lantern wants to shut that smart ass down, "You Idiots let him flee, if any of the A-Squad members were actively present at that time, Bruno would be still here in the Containment facility. Now we lost him. Do you have any idea how much we toiled to bring him alive here?"

Blue Beetle responses, "Batman helped you guys get him. And don't forget he is a B-squad like us. You just transported him here."

Green Lantern flushes out, "Shut up! Apart from catching Bruno he too is another unnecessary tug like you."

He gets off the table and bangs the door hard on his way out.

He joins with Selina and Martian who are eavesdropping from outside. He consults Martian, "Are these Bums telling the truth?"

Martian acknowledges, "I couldn't crack their heads. It is strange. They often have wavering thoughts which are easiest to crack. But today something is holding them back. Their head is like blank paper."

Selina denotes, "I am resigning them immediately after consulting with Superman. Let's cut them loose"

Martian warns her, "No. Don't do that. It should be quite the contrary. From now on these two will stay close to us."

Selina goes, "What?" then she stops herself. She knows Martian knew better and his action always carried purpose.

Green Lantern urges them, "Let's call and inform everyone. Selina, please prepare the conference room. We are having an emergency meeting."

Martian disagrees, "It is too late now. Besides, everyone needs a break after the Forest fire and the intergang feud. We can acquaint them in the morning. You guys can take off. I need to talk to Cyborg. He can help me with a piece of information."  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
*Metropolis*

Lois wakes from sleep in the middle of the night. She finds Clark is not in her bed. He just returned home after a week. What got him again?

She strolls to find him in the next apparent niche. Their Son's room. Clark is straddling shirtless next to the cradle and stares at his son sleeping in peace.

Lois joins him and whispers from behind, "He has your wrist. He is strong like you"

Clark grins hearing her. He notifies, "He has your eyes. He looks like you. Jonathan Samuel Kent" he whispers slowly without disturbing his son and adores his peaceful sleep. He misses watching him grow but only next to his lovely wife Lois.

The thing about Lois is she is the superwoman of superman. She can tell what is going on inside by just taking a look. Lois is the key to Superman. She asks him with concern, "What is bothering you honey?" as leans over his shirtless back.

Clark can't hide her anything. Afterall she has a PhD in psychology and will go any extent to find her answer in investigative journalism. It is much better he himself opens up to her. He takes his time and heaves his arm to comfort her.

Clark tells her, "Lex Luthor. He is still missing."

Lois kissing his cheek, convinces him, "Honey! It is peaceful that he is gone. Think about it. He always carried something against you. He is crazy to take on you. His contact sheet is full of grey. Somebody must have done something...he deserves it. Now come back to bed."

Clark can agree with everything she is telling him about Lex. With an intense gesture, he finally interpreted her, "It is not that easy honey. Lex is an evil intellect. Last time I broke his place I found out he was compiling my DNA. Then he is gone. I should find out what he is up to? Why does he need my DNA?"

Lois goes, "Your DNA?" as she stroked his hair. she found it crazy that somebody needs her husband's DNA

Clark depicts to her, " Of Course he got it wrong. My Kryptonian DNA strands are not in my hair, nails or spittle. They are forged from earth's water. My DNA is me. My Core. It is inside my transcellular fluid system. My blood and my seeds" he implied at Baby Sam who is in deep sleep.

Lois upholds him, "Then he stands zero chance of getting them." she hugs him close to caress his bare torso.

Clark groans at her ministrations and Lois nips his ear, "Mr Kent I want you back in my bed. I need your DNA for my private endeavours. Your cooperation can favour us both" and kissed him wild.

Clark scooped her back to the bed.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
*Themyscira *

Bruce gets out from a hot bath. The room he was offered is built around an open-air courtyard. It has pebbles, timber, and clay bricks. The room was sturdy and comfortable. It has a big klismos bed by the window confronting the ocean. No electricity or WiFi as such. The room is coated with white limestone in the wall and dyed indigo blue on the roof and pillars. Its simplicity and refinement captured Bruce's heart.

He steps to a three-legged round table which has his clothes neatly folded. He is presumed to wear their traditional outfit for the rite. It is two pieces of clothing. Themyscira clothes were mainly based on necessity, function, materials, and protection rather than identity. Thus, clothes were quite simple, draped, loose-fitting and free-flowing. Clothes were homemade and cut to various lengths added with ornamental clasps or pins, and a belt, or girdle.

The first piece of clothing is a loincloth. He ties it around to cover his genitals. The next piece is the tunic. He drapes and fastens it as chitoniskos. His strong physique looks spectacular in that short gown. His right shoulder is free to expose till his heavy chest and tunic edges to bare his athletic thighs.

He joins his escort Artemis outside. She welcomes him in Ancient Greek. Bruce returns the salute. Guard Women standing behind Artemis giggled at the glimpse of Bruce in a chiton and the way it revealed his muscular frame. He is on par with their Greek God statues.

Artemis acquaints him, "Κύριος, you will be sitting next to our Queen in the arena."

Bruce shortly inquires to her, "will Diana join us in the arena? I like to have her by my side."

Artemis politely notifies him, "Princess will be performing, κύριος".

Bruce firmly bids her, "Sure! I like to sit next to Diana in the arena and watch your Princess perform."

The women behind Artemis again chuckled at his remark. Artemis condemns them at their inappropriate gesture towards their guest.

She faces Bruce and in a frigid tone tells him, "Princess Diana will be performing the ritual dance. You, κύριος, is invited to sit next to our Queen Highness Hippolyta during the ceremony"

Now everything makes sense to Bruce. Diana is a Princess. But he is not one bit surprised.

Diana is such a classy woman. Even though she was in the 12*18 cabin at the bridge in Crusie and accompanied a forty plus something old man to parties, there was something royale about her all the time. The Shits she went through!

Artemis further informs him, "The Queen has charged us to assist you with your black flying thing."

Bruce refuses, "No thanks! I got everything covered. It's all technical and I can fix it alone."  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
All are gathered in the arena. Bruce is sharing the stage with Antiope and other generals. Queen Hippolyta gets to address the kingdom.

Queen Hippolyta sermons, "Long time ago... we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. Themyscira has awakened to life and freedom. We end today a period of ill fortune and Themyscira discovers herself again."

The tribe are listening to their Queen in stillness. They look up to their very Queen who endured everything with them. Even worse, She was locked in a prison bunker with lack of food and water.

Queen Hippolyta goes on with, "The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?"

The tribe renders uproar and receives with a warrior spirit.

Queen Hippolyta starts again, "Freedom and power bring responsibility. We have turned our backs on the men's world long ago. When the darkness from the outer world surrounded us. We are left alone to suffer. Until help arrived" she referred to Bruce.

She adds, "No man or woman or nation should go through what we suffered. As your Queen, I decided to open up and reveal us to the outer world. Themyscira will be of service to the world."

The tribe was bewildered as she declared. Bruce can evaluate her reasoning. The misery they went through alone and the assistance they can provide to the world. Just some winks after, the crowd welcomed her decision with an outcry. Finally, Themyscira is open to the world.

Queen Hippolyta, "The service to the world means the service to the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease."

Bruce admired her oration and hear her with great interest. Queen Hippolyta held up with a sense of gratitude from the first minute of freedom.

Queen Hippolyta, "On this day our first thoughts go to the brave soul lost of this freedom, the warriors of our tribe, who, embodying the old spirit of Themyscira, held aloft the sword of freedom and lighted up the darkness that surrounded us. Themyscria will raise a shrine on their name and will worship them every day from today till the end of time."

Tears spilt in her eyes as she remembered the victims of the war and DeSaad.

Queen Hippolyta wrapped up her speech, "To the nations and people of the world we will send greetings and delegates. We pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy. And to Themyscira, our motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service. Long live Themyscira!"

The claps and cheers commemorated their declared sovereignty. Bruce stands up and claps with others. He made some warrior woofs and shortly quit it, finding it awkward as everyone else was crying heartily about their hard-earned freedom.

The drums rolled.

The bangs stopped. The tribe silenced and returned to their seats. The door across the arena opens.

A group of women dressed in toga formed a tight circle shape and entered the stage in the middle of the arena step by step to the drumbeat.

There are 12 dancers swaying their hips without revealing their face. Each and every dancer wore a different colour velvet shawl over their toga. Bruce felt eager to find Diana among them. Dancers are in a tight circle and showing their posteriors to the spectators.

His eyes scanned on each and every dancer. It is hard to distinguish someone on that closed pattern. They are virtually the same height and complexion. The dance is choreographed in a way that no one stands out in their performance. They all danced in a circle and in precise sync.

In the middle of the act, Harp and Cithara joined drums. The dancers opened to segregate in tune. Bruce rose restlessly. He can't wait for Diana to reveal herself through the dance. After all, He is the greatest detective in the world.

He examined the dancers close. Bruce can't visually distinguish them. As their dance is so perfect they tune their body language in the same tempo to the music.

A couple of Aulos joins the music amplifying spirit to it. Now the music is complete and follows a rhythm.

Bruce scans their velvet shawl over the toga. Purple, yellow, black, green, peacock blue, rose. Bruce heads back to peacock blue. As the dancers twirled their shoulders to the music. The shawl gives away the rose symbol embroidered inwards. Diana!.

Bruce concentrated on the tall, luscious and elegant women dancing in peacock blue velvet toga.

Act 2 starts, the dancers reveal their faces to spectators. Bruce's desperate eyes savoured the beautiful face of Diana. Nobody in the dancers is a match to Diana nor anybody in the world. She looked divine in the white toga and Peacock blue velvet shawl. She kept her expression void to match the mood of the song.

As the song kept pacing, Dancers came to life. They start to reflect themselves gradually. Diana's blue eyes start to roll according to the song. She rotates its elegance matching her steps. Her eyes finally find Bruce.

Even though he is sitting next to her mother, Bruce is never afraid to see her the way he feels. He looked at her. The way all women want to be looked at by a man.

Diana danced all the way eyeing him with sweet blush by the edge of her lips. Realizing that she feels the same way as he is the best feeling for Bruce in a long time.

Nobody has ever made Diana feel the way Bruce does. Bruce is a complete stranger five days ago. Now he is sitting next to her mother on her island. He came back. She told him to leave and never return. But he came back.

Diana danced like a river. She glides, waves, drifts, leaps, twirls, curls, breaks and again glides. Bruce is enchanted by her movements. Last time she was dancing with him. His hands caressed her. His palms grazed her sleek skin. He breathed her aroma. But he didn't get to watch her dance as a bystander. Now he sees her. All of her.

The Ritual dance is soon over. The tribe lauds and celebrates. The dancers take a bow and call," Long live Themyscira!"

Dancers return back to their quarters.

The Crowd dispersed.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
*The Watchtower*

Cyborg's eyes scan the computer. He couldn't find any tip. He removes his finger USB from the computer and informs Martian, "Nothing. It is totally blackout."

Martian is facing away from him. He is looking at the vast expanse of space outside the watchtower. He replies, "Hmm"

Cyborg moves to him and explains, "Whatever Bruno used was definitely a far more superior technology. But one thing is for sure, he didn't evade back to earth. What he disappeared in thin air?"

Martian never heard Cyborg praising a technology stranger than his. But he just responded bluntly, "Hmmm" again.

Cyborg figured out the lack of interest in Martian. With only Martian and Cyborg remaining in the watchtower, Cyborg opens up to ask him, "Why didn't you tell them?"

Martian turns to face him. Cyborg elaborated, "You knew. When you talked about Motherbox, you knew from where I got my powers. But why didn't you tell them? They deserve to know?"

Martian tells him, "It is much safer they presume you are a genetic accident. Do me a favour. Don't talk to anyone about this. The League isn't safe anymore."

Cyborg shocks at his remark. "What do you mean the League isn't safe ?" he takes some time to progress and asks him, "you mean the new guy - The Batman?"

Martian refuses, "No. With him, I have complete faith." Cyborg enquiries, "then who?"

Martian remained silent. Cyborg implies, "I think I should tell them. At Least the A-squad privately."

Martian threats him in a growling tone, "You don't talk about this to anyone, understand? Listen, if something happens to me or to anybody in future. You go to one person and one person only." he commands him.

Cyborg never heard him talk that way. He asks, "Who?"

Martian replies, "Batman."  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
*Gotham*

Maintenance works are running on Wayne tower. The receptionist lady is dismayed to receive a guest at a bizarre hour of the day. Though she is annoyed inwardly, her efforts hid them.

"Excuse me! Mam"

She rises from her desk to attend Steve Trevor at reception. She welcomes him with a smile as part of her drill and queries him, "Good Afternoon Sir. Welcome to Wayne tower. How can I be of service to you?"

Steve Trevor answers, "I have an appointment with your CEO Mr Bruce Wayne."

The receptionist turns cautious. Just another guy to pitch a proposal to Mr Wayne.

Still carrying her smile, she deals with him, "Of Course Sir, Let me check the appointments and schedules"

She scans across the empty database for today's guest and shortly replies back to him, "I am sorry sir. Mr Wayne hasn't scheduled an appointment today."

Steve drags an excuse, "No. There must be a mistake. Mr Wayne is expecting me."

The receptionist turns him down instantly, "I am worried that's not possible sir. Everything from our end is clear. It is all networked. Mr Wayne's secretary Iris will update us with proper prior notice on the guest list. We recommend you to contact her through email. Thank you for visiting Wayne towers. Have a Good day, Sir."

Steve stares at her straight. Striking a smile, he gives her a thumb drive, "Can you at least pass it on to Mr Wayne or his secretary. He is expecting it to be delivered. I am a real estate broker. The Thumb drive has visuals of hot properties at Nordics and Greece. Please pass it on when you can."

The receptionist receives hundreds of those thumb drives with project mapping, 3D designs, PLM prototypes addressed to Bruce Wayne. It all goes straight to trash.

She collects the thumb drive from him and puts an entry. "Your name sir?"

Steve goes instinctively, "Charl...Steve. Steve Trevor. Real estate broker. Thanks"

The receptionist puts the thumb drive in a PVC zipper bag and bids, "Thank you, Sir. You can follow Ms Iris in her email id. She will guide you. Thanks for your visit to Wayne towers. Have a Good day, Sir."

Steve Trevor replies, "You too. Ms" and exits the floor.

He crosses the security camera and scanner system on his way out of the building. Once he is out, he looks at the maintenance work happening on the windows of the city's tallest building. He lights up the cigarette. "Charlie, we need to go." he can hear Ben calling him.

Steve stands still and looks at the Wayne symbol on the top of the tower. Benjamin Turner aka Bronze Tiger walks to his new boss. He has shaved his head and beard. He is in a cab driver disguise and calls him, "Charlie?". He can't stand there, in open for long after blowing their central police station.

Steve's eyes unmoving from Wayne tower, "A minute Ben! I just want to take a good picture at it while it is still here." and laughs sarcastically.

Over a 1,000 feet tall, Wayne tower stands strong. Built as a symbol to welcome all of those who enter Gotham City, the tower also has railway lines going around it.

Ben asks him, "Why Gotham?". Steve replies with a chuck, "Nothing personal" as he photographed the name Wayne in Wayne tower  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
*Themyscira *

Bruce is installing the neural schema to the computer in the Bat. He holds a backup of the operation and user interference module in his phone. He feeds the route map and checks at the thermal scanner. The ammunition system works perfectly and the Autopilot mode is neat. The Winds shield is fixed. The Bat will be ready for aviation once the neural schema is done, which is close to midnight.

He hears a disturbance around, "I just need some more buckets of water, Artemis. The Engine needs artificial coolant." but hears nothing in response.

He lifts to see Diana is standing with a few other women around. He raises from his knees, "Diana…" and stops, recognizing that women behind her are guards. He re-addresses her again, "Princess".

Diana and the girls greet him. Bruce clarifies, "I am sorry I thought you as..," he dragged. Diana eases him, "It's okay Bruce. No offence was taken." and grins back at him.

Next to her, a dark-skinned beautiful young girl looked around the Bat. She tried to touch the engine deck. Bruce warns her, "No lady. That part is still hot"

The girl goes ahead and touches it, "I just want to feel the hot tin. The oil in the mechanical transmission will lose its lubricating capacity, while the fluid in a hydraulic coupling converter will leak under the pressure created. This, in turn, will affect the lifespan of your vehicle. It also causes deterioration of the insulation and the pistons may stick in the cylinder. It will look gross"

Bruce looks at her awe. Diana steps forwards and introduces her, "Bruce, meet my younger sister Donna troy. Donna, this is Bruce Wayne"

Donna offers her hand to shake, "In simple terms, Water is a bad choice of coolant to your Jet Mr Wayne. I recommend Methanol and Cocoa powder."

Bruce goes, "Cocoa powder?" as he was perplexed.

Donna teases, "yeah! To get rid of the mint smell" and laughs. She then adds, "I can arrange methanol from my lab."

Diana is pleased to see Bruce and Donna getting along well. Diana interprets them, "Donna, once you are done. Take Mr Bruce here to show around Themyscira. He will be leaving tonight."

As she said abruptly both of them looked at her, something was weird about her. Diana bids, "I have a very important thing to address. You two can take your time, fix this thing, stroll around. I'll see later Bruce. Donna, take care of our guest" and she departs.

Bruce and Donna left hanging there. Diana shifted in the air before they could respond.

Donna is never a socialising type, that too with a stranger, an outsider. She has no idea what her sister is thinking. She turns to Bruce. He is also mystified by her behaviour. Probably this is the last time they see each other and Diana wants to wind up like that.

Donna invites him, "You want to see Hera temple?"  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Diana enters the Courtroom. She walks across the cleaning processes happening in the hall. DeSaad's torture pad is still laying there will all setup. She climbs the steps and heads to the Queen's Chamber, where her mother resides.

Queen Hippolyta is in a meeting with Antiope. Both of them are discussing with some bind sheets on their desks, Just like that Diana enters Hippolyta calls her, "Diana. O Hera! You are here. Come here"

Diana steps to the desk. It is full of sheets designed for a warrior suit. Queen Hippolyta informs, "Your Aunt and I are having a discussion on updating our warrior suit. What do you think of it?" The blueprint she handled has a full-size breezy outfit modelled on the Indian salwar kameez, a tunic over tapered trousers, looser and more free-flowing. The flesh-coloured bodice and flowing pants embroidered with crystals and gilded peacock feathers

Diana is not interested in it. She shares her opinion, "It looks structured and beautiful. Just for the sake of looking great but I don't think we can move fast in it. Our legs need to be free. This looks heavy and fancy."

Antiope bangs the desk, she won. Diana echoed back Antiope's thoughts. Antiope gives her preferred blueprint of the costume to Diana.

It was based on their training armour, strapless bustier cuirass breastplate, girdle and battle skirt ensemble. A knee-high armour boot cupping the knee joints. There is eagle insignia on the breastplate with the gold layers. The addition of brown leather straps, wraps, closures and the lightning bolts said everything about the narrative of their clan.

Diana fell in love with the design at first sight. It fully filled all the action functionality. They were sporty and strong and were able to ride horses. They looked elegant, though they are not striving for elegance.

She uttered, "Perfect!". Antiope liked the look at her face. But it clearly puts the Queen at worry.

Queen Hippolyta begs her, "Diana honey! Don't you think it is little...I mean it exposes more"

Diana couldn't understand her. Antiope breaks it down to Diana, "Your mother is trying to say men will look at us suggestively if we fight wearing it."

Diana denies the information, "A Woman should value the attention she gets for her actions, not for looks. We are a race of warrior women. We have to dress for functionality. It is okay if it shows our long legs, we would be able to jump, kick and run in it."

Antiope can't agree more. She turns to sister Hippolyta and forces her to arrive at a conclusion for the final design.

Queen Hippolyta slips from the situation, "We will discuss it after we both give more thoughts into it." she replied to Antiope and sank back to her work.

Diana decides to open up to her mother, "Mother, I want to talk with you".

Queen Hippolyta without raising her head from her desk, "I am here honey. Tell me?"

Diana struggled to mention, "I want to talk with you alone, Mother"

Taking the cue Antiope raised from her seat, "I'll leave you two alone. Hippolyta, stop that! Now talk to your daughter." She instructed her sister and left.

Queen Hippolyta inquires, "What is it, honey?"

Diana tried to look at her mother straight, "Who am I?"

Queen Hippolyta looked back at her puzzled, "You are my daughter, Diana. Princess of Themyscira"

Diana crosses her head, "And why am I exactly your daughter?"

Queen Hippolyta tells, "Because I sculpt….." before she could finish the same fable she is telling all these years, Diana yells, "No." and stops her.

Diana announces, "I am not a clay. I was given birth. I was given birth by you. And that's why I am your Daughter."

Queen Hippolyta with her jaws wide open. She can see her daughter is hurt in the heart.

To ease her, she tried to convince her, "Diana you misunderstood…"

Diana says sharp, "I've met him"

Queen Hippolyta goes, "Who"

Diana explains, "Zeus. your lover. The man calls himself my father. I met him in the deep woods."

Queen Hippolyta gives up. She puts her pen down. She knew a day will come for both of them to meet. She can't just say- it is too soon or too late.

Diana cries in a heartfelt pain, "I am given birth by your union with Zeus. I can feel it in my bones. But what about Donna? I do care about Donna. She is my sister. But, We don't look like her. She is going to ask about her family history? And what are you going to tell her?"

Queen Hippolyta fumbles, "Donna… Where is….Donna? What did you tell her?"

Diana mentions, "I left her with Bruce so that I can talk with you in private. I haven't told her anything. But one day she will figure it out herself."

Queen Hippolyta convinces her, "Diana, I don't know what Zeus told you. I am your Mother. Trust me. He is a monster."

Diana rages, "The only monster I see here is you, mother. I've been living all my life thinking I was sculpted from clay. I felt special…..I felt alienated….I felt alone. I missed so much because of your myth. Do you know what it feels to realize your life was spun around a lie? I can't stay here anymore. Do you know what will happen to this Island, if your followers find out you are a liar? I am leaving Themyscira, Mother" she declared.

Queen Hippolyta goes, "Diana!"

Diana tells her, "Don't try to stop me, Mother. I can't stay here. You can't lock me here. I love you, mother. But I have to find myself. Discover my true-self. Test my potential. Meet my destiny. This Island will keep resonating the dreadful lie I've been told by you. I am leaving, mother. My duty to Themyscira is over. You said yourself we have to serve the world. I am volunteering, Mother."

She hears nothing from her. Diana goes towards the exit door.

Queen Hippolyta confesses in a low tone. "I found her."

Diana goes, "What?"

Queen Hippolyta narrates, "A family from congo tried to flee from an ongoing civil war. They were headed towards Australia in a small wooden boat. There were 30 of them. The oceans were rough that night. Their small wooden boat is broken from a few nautical from here. We heard them, we tried to save them. But it was too late. We couldn't save anyone from there. Donna's mother gave her to me. The brave woman was holding up her child above her head for 4 hours without drenching in the freezing water. As soon as I received Donna from her, she drowned."

Diana is deeply saddened by hearing the story.

Queen Hippolyta added, "I raised her the same way I raised you. As much as she is your sister, she is my daughter too. No matter what you both will be my daughters and I will hold you two in my heart."

Diana before opening the exit door.

She informed her, "He is still waiting there, Zeus. He is waiting there where you locked him. Hoping to see you one day again." and leaves the room.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Bruce finished his dinner with the royal society and returned to his room. Donna showed him around Themyscira. By the evening they strolled around Hera temple, Amazon senate assembly hall, Astronomical observatory, Coliseum, Delian hill, Dryadic forest, Fountain of Youth, Hall of the Council of Themyscira, Kanga races field, Royal Armoury, Royal Palace, Queen's chamber, Surgery and medical, Temple of Aphrodite, Temple of Athena, Temple of Hades, Temple of The Patrons, The Gate and Trial arena.

Bruce being a passionate photographer, he spent a lot of time capturing the beauty of their ancient monuments. He even took one or two portraits of Donna on his phone. The time he took to photograph irritated Donna. But for Bruce photography is something he likes to do in a conventional way of the time-consuming process instead of smartphone quickies and selfies.

Most of the places began rebuilding, while still, some are standing as evidence of the Alien occupation. Donna escorted him to the dinner at the Royal Palace which surprised many of amazons.

Donna isn't a socialising type but she finds Bruce incredibly comfortable because of his immense scientific knowledge. This is the first time Donna is meeting somebody smarter and knowledgeable than her. That asset attracted her more to him. Her curiosity and child prodigy impressed Bruce more. Bruce thoroughly enjoyed her company.

Even in dinner, he sat close to Donna. But Diana who is sitting next to her mother just smiled at him at first contact and then she avoided looking at him throughout the dinner. Tension in the faces of Queen Hippolyta and Diana is evident in their faces. Bruce's detective mind kicked in telling him there is a conflict between them.

Bruce stripped his chitoniskos and replaced them with his casual clothes. It is about the time for him to leave. He checked his watch and everything was set. If he leaves now by the next hour he will be in Gotham. But Diana is still in his head. She didn't talk to him after they met by the afternoon. Even in dinner when everyone bids him farewell. She remained silent. If he leaves now, he has no idea when he will see her again. He puts on his brown leather jacket. Somebody knocks on his door.

Bruce checked the time it is close to midnight. He hears the knock again. He walks to the door and opens it. A figure draped in a black cloak is standing outside. He goes, "Diana!".

Bruce looked at her covered from head to toe in a black cloak, "What happened Diana?"

Diana whispers, "I want to talk with you" Bruce curiosities why she is acting secretively.

Bruce tells her to, "Come in". Diana checks at the empty room behind him and refuses, "I have a better place in my mind." She takes his hand and drags him in the hallway.

They jumped the Gate and headed to the port. A couple of small rowboats are standing by the bushes. Diana her black cloak. She is wearing a knee-length white toga draped by her right shoulder. Diana drags the rowboat by herself. Though it seems easy to her, Bruce gave her a hand in dragging it to water. The boat slips into the ocean.

Diana tells him, "Get on" and jumps to the rowboat. It is close to midnight and Bruce is gaping where she is taking him in a boat that doesn't even have an oil lamp to anchor. Bruce jumps in and asks her, "Where are we going?". Diana starts to row the boat into the ocean and answers, "to my second favourite place"

As they flee, a bush in the port comes to life. It wakes and changes to its natural form. The form that only Batman has seen so far. It stands to look at the boat disappearing in the horizon. It starts to shift its shape again. The tissues contrasted and evolved back forming a human-like structure. It takes a warrior women's structure that will suit the nature of this island nation.

It looks at the black cloak Diana shredded. It takes it and covers it nude form. It enters the civilian quarters from where it can spot the Royal Palace.

The Royal Palace is kept open for cleaning. It enters and checks the hall. The thing it came for has already been shifted to someplace else.

It walks along the hallway and stops in front of the safekeeping room. It smells that thing in the air. The smell of blood and dry flesh. It looks around and breaks the lock.

Inside, among all other properties, it can find the torture pad of DeSaad. It walks towards it. The machine is all set and waiting for a product to test. Its eyes fall on the Green serum. DeSaad's precious Green serum. It takes it in hand. The Green Serum filled its eyes with amusement. The Small grin in its face turns into a big smile holding the Green serum in hand.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
The Rowboat reached the heart of the ocean. Bruce looked around and there was no trace of land anywhere. Diana stops rowing and looks at him to wave a naive smile.

The Moon and the stars reflect in the clear surface of the ocean. The place is so deep in nowhere and filled with silence.

Bruce looks at the beauty around. He is the first one to break the silence, "If you have told me that we are coming here, I would have taken my phone with me. This place is so beautiful and serene. I could have snapped one or two shots."

Diana smiles at his remark. She tells him, "You haven't seen anything yet." She frees her hand from the row and jiggles the surface of the water.

The water starts to shine. It started as a blue glow and as it passed it sparkled green, red and yellow. The glow starts to spread and the ocean radiates. The Ocean turns out as a bioluminescent canvas of colours and marvels.

It all felt surreal to Bruce. The Beauty around him literally chokes his eyes. It's killing him in a good way

Bruce tries to look deep inside the water, the magical blue glow of the ocean is caused by marine plankton and dinoflagellates. He looked further to see jellyfishes which are glowing like neon light inside. There are other marine species adding life to this moving canvas. Bruce is mesmerised by the sight.

He has been to a lot of beaches and seas. He himself was from a costal city -Gotham. But never in his life has he seen the ocean lit like this striking before.

Diana cherishes the sensation of coming back and experiencing this exotic sight. She also enjoys the look on Bruce's face who is encountering it for the first time. The pleasure in her doubled as she shared it with him.

Bruce utters, "It is beautiful, Diana" Diana teases him, "you still think you can catch all this in a picture?" Bruce crosses his head, "No." Certain things in life are meant to experience Live, virtually just living in that moment. Like this, two of them in a rowboat by midnight in the ocean.

Diana wants to know, "Bruce, How did you find me? No one can enter Themyscira like that. How did you find me?"

Bruce's eye drops on her. Her beautiful sleek face is absorbing the light and radiating back from the luminous phenomenons happening around. Just like the moon in the sky, how it absorbs from the sun and radiates. In her posture and toga, Diana looked like a precious masterpiece kept in Musee du Louvre. Bruce could just sit here and watch her all his life.

Bruce replies with a small chuckle as a remark, "They call me the greatest detective in the world, Diana. Even if you are gone to outer space, I'll come for you. I'll always find you."

Diana, getting his subtle remark, mocked him" You've put a tracker in my suit. don't you?" and she stopped her chuckle. The way Bruce looking at her made her flush.

She couldn't see him straight, "When I saw you back….you know what, Thanks for coming and fighting for us" she held back from saying what she really felt.

Bruce enjoys this uncomfortable pause, "You're welcome!" and he teases her, "Is that why you brought me here? Is that all you have to tell me? Thanks?" he dragged and asked her straight, "What's with you and your mother, Diana?"

Diana was amazed by his intuition. _He can read my mind or what?_ She gave him like how you know? look

Bruce shows up his arm in the air and again brags, "World's greatest detective!"

Diana smiles at his gesture and feels a little straightforward to tell, " I recently found something about myself, Bruce. My mother has been lying about our birth. I met my father. It seems like they both believe in their own ulterior motive. They have a very different vision of my destiny."

Bruce goes, "Destiny?" Diana clarifies him, "They think I was born with a purpose and I should dedicate myself to the purpose"

Bruce describes to her, "It is typical parenting, Diana. All parents pressure their children to do something that they missed to do. Somehow it gives them the satisfaction of coming close to their goals. It's very normal."

Diana shortly comes back, "My Mother denies the fact of giving me birth. Does that sound normal?"

Bruce goes again, "What?". He presses, "But she is your mother right?"

Diana feels ashamed to share, "She convinced us we are sculpted from clay and then god gave us life"

Bruce goes again, "wh.." but stopped. He is bored with getting thrilled. He grew tired of surprises. It is already too much for him to take.

Bruce tries to comfort her logically, "It's okay Diana, we all grew up with some fancy stories around. If I had the same powers as you, even I would have believed in destiny"

Diana breaks down, "I don't know what to believe? My whole life is a lie."

Bruce approaches it again with logic, "Belief, fact and opinion are three different things, Diana. You are what you believe yourself to be. But the fact is you are given birth like us."

Diana looks at him with a complex look. _A new conspiracy?_

Bruce elaborates his proof, "You have a mole in your temple. The same place as your mother" he points it out.

Diana stops moaning and looks at her reflection in the water.

Bruce resumes, "That is a perfectly normal round Mole. Like a micro pencil dot. Very short to observe. They come from genetic heredity. You have it because your mother had it."

Diana puzzled, "Is it?"

Bruce informs her, "Yes. Not the mole in your right ring finger or backside of your neck. But the one in your temple is directly inherited from your mother,"

Diana checks her finger, "When did you saw?" she has no idea about the one in the back of her neck.

All are normal beautiful round moles that come from birth.

Bruce goes, "saw what?" Diana tells him, "My moles!".

Bruce recalls her, "oh! The one in the right ring finger when we danced, you gave your hands to me. The one in the back of your neck is when I tried to attack you on the Cruise."

Diana mentally recalls those incidents. They knew each other for less than a week but so much has happened between them. They mutually feel like they have a deeper connection. Did I just tell my family secret to a guy I met last week on a cruise? But looking at Bruce it didn't feel like that way to her.

Bruce educates her, "People average about 30-45 moles. 60% of them are inherited from our genes. Genes! Diana, Genes. Gene is the new name for destiny."

She looked in awe. _How can this man know so much?_

Bruce sensing the drift in her mood, "That delicate mole over your beautiful knee will tell everything about your great great grandfather."

Diana uncrosses her leg instinctively and drags her toga till her knee to stop exhibiting. She smiles silly for feeling a feminine instinct evoking in her. _What's wrong with me?_

Bruce didn't mind her doing that. He was just teasing her to change the mood.

To complement her action, Diana points him the mole in her left inner arms and tells, "I have one here too. In Fact, I have 35 of them. But we never saw moles that way. We thought these are spots where God's ink got over. He missed the spot and continued again. We used to play a childhood game with this."

Though it sounds silly, Bruce adores the way she recalls her childhood fantasies. He asks her, "What game?" making her feel better.

Diana giggles and recalls, "We have a public bath system. I and my sisters will check and inform each other of the number of moles we have. Then we will run around. The chaser has to catch others and discover a spot of a mole in their body within 50 counts. Whoever wins can take others' share of sesame candy for the day. I used to cheat a lot with my powers. So, I can keep my share of sesame candy."

Bruce teases, "50 counts? I can catch and find it in 10 counts"

Diana challenges him, "Forget 'the finding' part. No one ever caught me even in 500 counts. I am fast."

Bruce says, "Agreed! You are fast. But I am sharp, I constantly observe. If I have to find those 35 moles, even if it takes 500 days, I will find it."

Diana provokes him, "No way Bruce. You have to catch me first" and then she rises from the boat to jump into the ocean.

The cold water splashes on Bruce. He stuns, "Diana what are you doing?"

Diana laughs heartily feeling the chillness of the ocean water. It softens her. She starts to swim around the rowboat.

She calls him, "Come here Bruce, feel the water"

Bruce denies her call, "Are you crazy? There are jellyfish down there" He didn't even bring his shark repellant with him.

Diana promises, "They won't come to the surface. So, jump!" she insists.

Bruce removes the brown leather jacket and head dives into the water.

The water was ice cold. His body shivered originally. Then it starts to alter to the conditions.

In the glowing ocean, He swims towards Diana. Is this one of my dreams?

Diana and Bruce swim towards each other. Meeting at common point Diana asks him, "How does it feel?".

Bruce confesses, "Great!" Diana goes, "I know".

Bruce notices a mole in her right Cheek from the luminosity, " You have one mole on your right cheek between your eye and lips, parallel to the tip of your nose." Diana's extravaganza face itself has 4-5 of such beautiful moles. Some are too short to notice.

Diana pushes him away and swims ahead in her normal speed. Bruce follows her. Thunders start to crack. Diana stops to observe the sky.

Bruce catches her and tells her, "Another one in a triangle of the chin. There is also one near your left side of the Mouth, beneath your lower lip. A delicate black one. That makes it number 8. Only 27 more to go.. "

Bruce is making her colder than the ocean water. Diana pushes him away and flees at her normal speed.

Bruce picks up his speed and follows her. It starts to drizzle. Both are quite far from their rowboat. The rowboat is very far from Themyscira.

Diana halts swimming and enjoys the new rain as it comes down heavy. She held her breath and turned around facing the sky to float like a log in the rain.

Bruce, shortly catching her, notices her meditative stance. Bruce copied her action but in the opposite way.

Bruce and Diana floated like yin and yang in the rain.

Diana is the first one to break the silence, "Bruce, will you take me with you?"

Bruce admits to her, "I was thinking exactly the same thing. But, I don't know how to ask you?"

Diana clears her stance and asks, "Ask me what?"

Bruce turns to face her, "Will you come with me?"

The warmth of having Bruce nearby and the way he looks at her; everything is new to her.

Bruce move near to her, "You didn't say anything"

Diana's eyes penetrate his eyes. She can't lie to him. But she has some moral conduct to hold, "I want to leave Themyscira. I want to explore the world. I want to discover myself. I want to make my own destiny."

The Rain kept pouring hard on them.

Bruce acknowledges, "The World is facing a new threat. We need you out there. Come and help us."

They both anchored facing each other.

Diana agrees, "Yes."

Bruce's nerves jump in pleasure. But there is something she must tell her first. He moves close to her. Both their face and body are inches away. Diana's toga edges brushed Bruce's jeans.

Bruce pushes his head closer and tells her, "You have about .5/4th of size mole in your Cupid's bow. Even you can't see that."

Diana smiles at his silly remark even in this intense moment. She asks him "Where?"

Bruce frees his hand from the water and touches her cupid's bow, "Here!"

The sensation of having his finger over plump lips made him forget everything. He traced his finger over her lips, gently reached her chin and locked his hand over her cheek.

Diana melted in the heat of his palm. She neared him.

Bruce brought his other hand to cup her right cheek. He massages her sleek cheeks gently with his thumb in a circular motion.

Looking at her cautious, he leans forward and plants a peck in her lips.

Diana closed her eyes inviting the sensation. She slowly opens her eyes when Bruce retreats back. Diana knows Bruce is waiting for her consent.

This time she takes the lead and presses her lips on his.

Getting a sign, Bruce grabbed Diana and kissed her passionately. The rain running down their faces added to an amazing sensation in the perfect romantic setting of lighting, sounds, and aromas.

Diana tastes delicious in his lips. But, he let her kiss back firm. She tried sucking and gently biting his lips with complete and undivided attention

Bruce pulls back in the middle of a kiss and gives her some pecks on the lips. To get her begging for more.

Bruce holds her hand and embraces them. Diana locks her hand over Bruce's neck and prepares for a long make-out session. They share the same level of energy and commitment they had during their dance. Both of them are unstoppable and are never willing to quit.

Bruce brushes his tongue inside Diana's mouth and sucks slightly inside her wet mouth. Diana murmurs a little "Mmm..." in his mouth. The sound escaped her lips naturally.

To stop their never-ending passionate embrace either the rain has to stop or the ocean has to dry or at least the sun should come up.

But they heard giant *BOOM* in the middle of the ocean.

They stopped and mutually looked at the direction they heard the sound. Something rises and falls back into the ocean. The giant wave emerged from it blacken the ocean again.

Diana and Bruce rushed to find out the cause. A guy facing down is floating on the surface of the ocean.

Diana tried to turn him around. But he was even heavy for her. Bruce raced behind her to see it was a fluffy, chubby young man. From the dress he wore he can point out he is an "Atlantean!"

It makes sense to Diana. She asks "Bruce help me, we have to turn him around. He needs oxygen."

Bruce applies his physics mind, he dips inside the water and turns him by his tummy. He needs assistance.

He gets back to the surface, "He is heavy, we can turn him only by his stomach."

Diana and Bruce get in, "On the count of three, two and one" They rotate him at anti-clockwise direction by applying pressure on his tummy.

He turns around. As Oxygen gets in he opens his eyes wide and pumps out the air choked in his pipeline.

Diana asks him, "Who are you?"

The chubby figure replies, "I am Gareth. I am here to deliver a message to Watchtower"

Bruce interprets, "Watchtower? It is in space. You are heading towards Themyscria."

Gareth goes, "I must have swapped the seal and taken the wrong direction."

Diana asks him in rage, "Who is attacking a messenger? That is complete immoral"

Bruce checks around to find but they are gone.

Gareth replies, "I don't know. They were following my tail for a long time. My uncle wants me to deliver a message to Watchtower. I need to get there immediately"

Bruce asks him, "What is the message anyway?"

Gareth informs, "Atlantis has fallen"  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Bruce enters the Queen's Chambers. He dried and dressed again in his casual clothes. The New Guy Atlantan Gareth has taken to a medic and Diana is off to pack.

He hears from Artemis that the queen wants to talk with him in private before he departs. So he presents himself one time before her.

Queen Hippolyta acknowledges his arrival. She gets up from her desk, "Come close, Son, it is just two of us".

Bruce walks towards her. Queen puts her pen down and asks Bruce to sit in right before her.

Bruce sits in front of the Queen who looks troubled.

Queen Hippolyta asks him, "I wish you had a good time here."

Bruce agrees, "the Best".

Grinning at his remark, The Queen asks, "You are also taking the Atlantean with you?"

Bruce goes, "No. But he insists on coming with us. He is a messenger. I know where to take him".

Glad hearing that, Queen Hippolyta notifies him, "We saw you and Donna strolling around the shore. You two getting along?"

Bruce thought about his time with Donna and accepted, "Yeah! Donna kept me in good company. She is sweet."

Queen Hippolyta takes pride in her daughter. She conveys him, "That's why I called you at this hour. Diana told us about you, about your parents and their fateful demise..." She didn't really like to go in-depth to the details.

The Queen tells him straight forward, "Bruce if you and Donna find each other interesting. We can arrange…"

Bruce stops her immediately, "no…no..no. I am sorry, your Highness. I can only see Donna as my little sister. She is a genius and has the curiosity to learn more. I am honoured that you asked but I share a sister vibe with her." Bruce has no idea how did they even end up thinking like that. _What Donna and me? What a poor lack of judgement?_

Queen nods, "Understood. Is it safe to presume that you share the same vibe with Diana?"

_Checkmate!_

Bruce kept his mouth tight. He can't lie to that. He tried to avoid looking at her straight. But Queen Hippolyta didn't leave him hanging there.

She implies to him, "I know, Bruce. I have crossed your age. I knew men very well before I locked us here in this paradise Island. I know what those looks you share with Diana mean. "

Bruce's silence accepts his affection for Diana.

The Queen continued, "Bruce, you are such a fine young man. Any mother wants her daughter to be with you. Even me. That's why I genuinely asked about you and Donna. But with Diana it is complicated."

She adds, "Diana is meant for something more. It is beyond you and me. She is our offering to New God, Bruce. No man should mate with her. That will bring the wrath of New Gods to this world. You are too young to understand it."

Bruce couldn't believe her. Diana is what? His logical and reasoning skill is completely lost before his emotional turmoil.

Queen Hippolyta, "This world is doomed since we turned our backs to Old gods. Diana is a daughter of Zeus. A demigoddess. If things go bad, to save us, to keep this planet together, we have nothing but Diana. She has to offer herself to New god for the very existence of this planet. For that, she needs to keep her body and spirit pure."

Those words stirred Bruce's reasoning and logical skill back. The Survival. Bruce rationally gave thought about her words. This is the same Queen who talked in the arena, the one Bruce adored for her wiseness - 'Themyscira will be of service to the world.' She really meant those words. Her action has a higher purpose than saving her own clan. She is thinking for all of the earth.

What if they fail? What is under stake? Their very existence. The only way they can even have a second chance to fight is by surviving the first one. What if they are all just wiped? No. His Detective mind kicks in and the only alternate route is marrying off Diana to their enemy and forming a peaceful bound, getting to know their weakness and then kick them in their balls.

His heart breaks by just thinking of this cruel idea. What must be the feeling of her mother? She has to give away her daughter to save her people. She has no choice. That's her Oath. I will protect my citizens at any cost. Shit! Man being Queen is not what it looks like

Queen Hippolyta warned, "After the first war. We lost to DeSaad. But DeSaad is only a beginning. He has a master. They will come back strongly to us. Be prepared."

Bruce nods and bids good-bye to her. He has set his priority straight. The survival of the race is more important than his basic emotions. This is just another mission.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Bruce Wayne prepared to board his jet. He waved Donna good-bye, who he will definitely miss. He waited for Gareth. He asked Artemis, "Where is he?"

Artemis explains, "The Atlantan is still having his dinner."

Bruce goes, "Still?" It has been one and a half hours they brought him here to board the Jet along with them.

Diana shows up in the same exo-suit, she wore on her arrival. It's hard for Bruce to look at her the same way again.

_Their one chance of survival_

Diana hugged everyone with an emotional farewell. She prepared herself for her new voyage.

She hugged tight her sister Donna and promised her, "I will come back. Okay, I will be back."

She moved to her buddy Artemis hugged her, "I am going to miss you. Take care. Take care of my mother and sister for me"

That's when Gareth entered. He looked even wider after the long dinner. He is thankful for Alfred that he cleared some space inside the Bat. Otherwise, they have to fly with discomfort in congestion.

The Trio assembled. Bruce informs them of the deck plan, "Okay guys! I am the pilot. I'll be sitting in my seat. Diana, you will be sitting in the same seat, behind me"

Gareth jumps and checks the Bat which is two-seaters, "Where will I be seated?"

Bruce informs him, "You will be lying flat on your back by the aisle."

Gareth goes, "What? Bruce explains, "We don't have a space brother. The only other option is leaving you here"

Bruce and Gareth boarded the BAT.

"….Diana!" screamed Queen Hippolyta.

Diana stopped boarding and checked her mother and Antiope coming towards her in the horses.

Diana jumps to the ground and runs to her mother and Queen Hippolyta jumps from her horse.

The mother and daughter hugs each other tight. Diana cries, "I am sorry Mother If I had hurt you with my words I am sorry, please forgive me."

Queen Hippolyta, "Don't even think like that. I came to send off my brave daughter."

Antiope handles Diana something warped.

Queen Hippolyta tells her, "Go ahead, open it.". Diana opens the peeling, it is a gold tiara with a star symbol.

Diana utters, "It is beautiful" and hugs her aunt for making it.

Queen Hippolyta informs, "We officially declared you will be our first delegate to the outside world." she sets the tiara on Diana's head and utters, "Go and make us proud!"

Diana hugs her mother again and returns to board the Jet.

Bruce is watching everything from his pilot seat in the Bat. Queen Hippolyta looks at Bruce and bids a bye. Her eyes suggest him to keep in mind whatever they discussed in Queen's Chamber.

The Bat takes off in the air and launches in the sky.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
*Gotham Harbour*

The Mob are changing clothes. Guns are in the middle of distributing. They are all advanced Apokolips technology. Ben is watching them close as they pass Guns to each other. Gangs are split into sub gangs. One of them is dressed in a suit, next one in wrapping a medicine coat, next one to them in firefighter jackets, chef aprons, school teacher ID, College/ university bags, plumber, electrician, warehouse delivery, food delivery partner, Cop..each and everyone is given a character.

Steve Trevor is shaving his head bald. He takes his marine locket out from his pocket and puts it in his neck.

The old Harbour is jam-packed with 600s of Intergang members. Bronze Tiger walks in between them supervising them. His team guides the amateurs about their advanced gun and helps them to suit their characters properly.

Steve Trevor shows up and the gang faces towards him. He is completely bald and wearing a marine uniform.

Steve Trevor proclaims, "My Soldiers!" This is the first time Steve is addressing the gang after taking charge as Head of Intergang. He is ambitious within a short span of time he assembled a gang of 600 people and sketched a critical mission.

He announces, "Tomorrow! Maybe tomorrow…... is the day we all meet our destiny. Tomorrow …..is the day we create history. Tomorrow…...we will ….give back all the rage, violence and imbalance this society forced on us. Tomorrow….will be the end of Gotham. Tomorrow….will be the beginning of a new world, a new society…. a better future…..On this Earth ... Every act is a political act ...No one stays good in this world ...That's how it starts. The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men cruel...Tomorrow...we will meet our destiny. To break this...rotten system...that classified us worthless….good for nothing...underdogs. We are…. fighting for the Gods. Gods are….with us. With their mercy…Tomorrow...Let's unleash hell on GOTHAM."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Notes: Woof! I thought I will wrap this story in 10 chapters. But practically it took 6 chapter to introduce the characters and plot itself. Lets see. Thanks for taking your time and reading. This Story awaits your valuable feedback. Thanks again! Stay safe


	7. A Tuesday in Gotham

# Chapter 7

## 

A Tuesday in Gotham

warnings: Mild Violence in the action scenes. No graphic or explicit content.

  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  


Gotham

Monday, Late Night.

In the shades of Gotham, a sharp pitch of female voice echoes from a young lady who is running helplessly to save her. The neighborhood is too dark to navigate with rainwater gutters and steams rising from the sewers. Behind her are four human monsters in all shapes - tall, short, round, and slim - all big and scary with their flesh penetrating eyes.

The streets are filled with homeless, sex-workers, and rats yet no one heard her cry not a soul came forward to help her.

She stops suddenly twisting her ankles. In front of her blocking the narrow lane is another man in a buffalo t-shirt. She pleads him for mercy, "Please".

The 'buffalo' laughs evil back as a reply and mocks her. It is obvious that they all belong to the same gang and she is their game today.

The Gang trapped her leaving no way out. She is caught in the middle clenching her handbag tight to her chest as her only defense. She looks around her wall of shame and hears their devils laugh. No masked vigilante, no cape in air. She closes her eyes tight as they start to march in unison towards her. Her sense of hearing now enhances the footsteps in rain, right then she hears a blow.

A Baton whack the giant buffalo from behind. She opens her eyes to the sound and sees the giant slips to the ground revealing an old guy in uniform and badge with a baton in his hand.

A panicky voice from behind identifies him as, "Commissionaire Gordon!" and yells at his pals, "Run! Run!" as they start to spread and flee.

Gordon looks at the poor soul in front of him, all drenched in fear and dirt.

He offers his coat and guides her to his siren car, "You okay kid? I'll drop you at your doors"  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Gotham

Tuesday, Dawn.

An employee shuttle reaches the fenced base of the Gotham Nuclear power plant.

The power plant workers stepped down from the bus one at a time. They are the first batch.

They set up a queue and used their ID card to swipe for entry.

A guy nearly 7 ft tall swipes the card on his turn, the computer identifies him as E. Saverine.

He gets access to the station and enters the hallway.

GPN has 1,000 employees overall and only 10% of them are needed for the morning batch.

Saverine checks at the Shift Manager, Electricians, Pipefitters, Mechanics, Nuclear engineers, and co-engineers one by one, looking for a potential threat.

None.

That brings around 40 people and armed guards and securities, all trained to run a nuclear plant safely and securely.

He gets inside the changing room following others. Saverine opens the cabin in his name and takes out the PPE. He observes how others dress in order - white Tyvek suits, respiratory protection, double gloves, safety glasses, safety shoes, and helmet.

He wore them like professionals but soon he heard, "Aye Dummy!".

Saverine turns to the voice.

It is a senior in an engineer coat, he yells, "You missing something",

The Engineer points the abdomen guard in the cabin and throws it on the giant's face, "Don't lose your balls dummy, ain't no cops in this town anymore to find your sacks for you."

Saverine plugs it in and resumes.

The Engineer identifies him entering the core room. He stops, "Aye! Where do you think you are going? I have never seen you before. New?"

Saverine without moving an inch from his place notices that only he and the annoying short-tempered Engineer are left behind in the room.

The Engineer, again in an authoritative tone, " What's your name?" checks the list in his pad and tries to call for securities in the walkie talkie.

Saverine turns and walks back towards the engineer. He stops right in front of him. The old engineer tilted his head way up to 90 degrees, takes a look at the mountain of muscles standing in front of him.  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Wayne Manor

Early Morning.

Alfred with a spinach lemonade juice in the tray looks at the empty bed in Bruce's bedroom.

The Trio of Bruce, Gareth, and (surprisingly) Diana (again) landed five hours ago.

Alfred offered Gareth one guest bedroom in the Vista and Diana returned to Martha's bedroom.

It's too early for Bruce Wayne to be up by this time. So, it must be Batman.

The elevator reaches the Batcave. Alfred steps down and can hear the punching sounds echoing in the cave.

Following it, he found Bruce in a grey sweatshirt, intensely punching the cement-filled bag.

Bruce, not minding Alfred's presence jabs the same spot again and again with his thoughts accumulated in oneness.

Alfred puts the tray by tableside and gets near the ring to greet him, "I, sincerely recommend you Master, do not to cut down your sleeping hours. That's gonna show up in your face."

Bruce, punching the bag, "That is a broken piece of Keraía. Computers failed to study it. Sort of alien technology. Better than ours. So, I gave a little push." he points to the screen in the laptop which is recreating the structure of Keraía.

Bruce jabs again with a small pause. Dust from the bag erupts all over from its surface.

That explains it all to Alfred. But he can bother about it later, now he has another pressing issue.

He insists Bruce, "I must say, we need a computer to fix you, Master. The face of Bruce Wayne, that too when he has a face -to- face interview with the enchanting face of Ms. Vicky Vale. You have repetition to keep, Sir." pointing to Bruce's growing stubble.

Bruce thinks of his suicide mission. He has to show up at Wayne Tower for the long-pending interview with Star-reporter Vicky Vale. This part of 'Bruce Wayne' is the price he must pay for his duel life.

Bruce goes on and asks, "Where is Gareth, is he awake? Tell him I'll take him to Watchtower after I get back."

The Atlantean messenger Gareth has to wait for half a day to deliver his message to Watchtower.

Alfred informs, "Our new guest is having his second breakfast in the manor and Diana is off to jog."

Bruce feels disturbed inwardly hearing her name.

_**The sweet of her lips on his. The tightness of her arm around his neck. The way his tongue swirled inside her mouth. His grip around her hips. Her breasts touching his chest…her dress partially hiking in the water... her softening breath...her addicting scent…** _

Snaps of their intimate embrace from last night come to his mind shortly follows her mother's plan.

The Promise.

Reacting outwards the frustration, he punches the bag heavily. It bombards and the cement busts to scatters.

The cement rains in the air.

Alfred coughs out the cement, takes his glass to wipe the dust, and puts it back.

He can see Bruce still standing there like a mountain. Seeing him in that stance Alfred carefully inquires, "Master, you alright? I think the fibers gave up. I make sure to do the quality test next time... " his eyes dropped to Bruce's knuckles; the grip.

"Let me clean it, Master. Have your juice" points to the glass and jumps into the ring.

Bruce sits before the laptop slurping the juice. Alfred looks at the poor bag. He starts to brush the floor.

Bruce unwinding, opens up to Alfred, "Alfred, do me a favor. Dig our connections at Washington DC".

Alfred recognizing the neutral tone from Bruce's voice and encourages him, "Sure. May I know the party, Sir?"

Taking a sip Bruce replies, "No, not that. We need an apartment"

Alfred brooming all the debris to once place, "A not-so-entertaining place for your age. It is all business suits and skirts"

Bruce firmly without a pause in a single breath, "How about we buy an apartment for Diana there? Can you arrange it?"

The mop almost slips from Alfred's fist. He goes, "What? it is very far away" he fumbles to ask, "May I ask why?"

Bruce faces him to elaborate, "Diana is the first official delegate from her Island. She must set up an embassy in American soil. It must be great for her if she can live by herself in Washington for some time. It will help her to know us better."

Alfred comes up disagreeing, "I think that's not a good idea, Sir. We can't just force her out like that. It is not the right time, she must stay here and fight alongside you."

Bruce arguably, "I can't have her in my city. Her power will attract more threats and dangers. She is ex-con of Intergang and they have a weapon that can wipe this city clean."

Alfred can see that the decision has already been made. He has to find a win-win situation here.

Thinking deeply, he convinces, "Bruce, listen. I am an old man and our politics is older than time. I understand those people in Washington. Their double standards, their cultures, their values, their legacy, it is all rubbish. The worst of mankind. Their visions are not relevant to our future or any future. It is all hatred and greed. If someone has to know us, if someone has to understand us, love us, fight aside us, we need to earn their respect as a species. Diana has to start somewhere beautiful and meaningful not Washington."

Bruce shortly suggests, "Paris?"

Alfred retorts, "No!" That's far away. He thinks out loud, "A place where she can witness the essence of our lives, our languages, lifestyles, cultures, traditions, foods, music, dance….."

Impatiently Bruce asks, "Dance? I am telling you. You are watching too much television, Alfred!"

Alfred carries on, "...Televisions, Movies, Broadways, Operas, Theatre! Someplace where art reflects our lifestyle. New York. More diverse and she won't be alone."

Bruce thinks out, "New York?" sounds fancy to him.

But Alfred is right, Diana won't stand out there. But there is something on his way, "Who do we have there? Apart from our competitors?!" and crosses his head slowly nodding 'no'.

Alfred almost jumps in excitement as he remembers, "Something better. Your Mother, being a Broadway enthusiast donated a building to her friend to run it as a theatre school. It is still your building and that's a perfect place to start with."

Bruce goes, "Theatre? School? Are you kidding?"

Alfred insists, "What? No. Last time I checked, they played how one's chair feels when their owner is not at home. It was so sad. Have you ever thought about it?"

Bruce closed his ears, "That's so stupid!"

Alfred counters, "The Stage is a mirror. It shows us without our masks."

Bruce remained silent.

He continued, "Your Mother's friend has been running that school for 20 years. She knew her thing. Diana can meet people from different backgrounds and see them perform every day about us, listen to our stories, and see us for what we really are. She has to understand us, our ego, our fear, our morale, our collective consciousness, and the singularity of our pathetic yet precious life."

Bruce is convinced. The takes a moment to sink that in and asks, "Who is that theatre lady again?"

Alfred tests his memory to bring back the name of, "Julia Kapatelis"  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Gotham City, outer ring road.

Diana is on her way back to Wayne Manor. She strolled carefree on the main roads of Gotham in her Gotham rouge t-shirt and Bruce's navy blue cotton jersey pajama bottoms.

It is too early in the morning for anyone to notice her fashion sense. People she saw are busy with their everyday life. Some jogging, taking their dog out, setting up their shop.

Though she has been in the Men's world, never before has she had an opportunity to observe it closely. But now, it is a prime duty to understand the norms of men's world and bridge hers with it. As she walked past all the skyscrapers, she was visually thinking of a place for her in this men's world.

The princess, a warrior, never in her life was she this free to go walk around in the early morning without an actual destination in mind. The new-found freedom filled her heart with a new tingling sensation.

The more she strolled, the more she saw and more she thought. She can see the obvious class divisions in Gotham. The economic imbalance in the city is evident in every corner. Bruce has a mountain, lake, and two big bungalows for him alone in his perimeter while there are people with kids sleeping by the sidewalk. Her patriarchy world, though it was a monarchy, everybody was given an equal opportunity. What's happening here is outright human exploitation. That scared her more than DeSaad's torture pad.

Wayne Manor was miles away from Gotham's city core. The tree cornered path she talking has more tire marks (mostly Bruce's) than people's footmarks. She stopped before a sidewalk bench to tie her white sneaker's lace.

The bush behind her rattled wildly for a second and stopped. A footstep is sneaking around to hunt something. Diana checks the bush but the noise subdued shortly.

She resumed finishing the lace and this time she used her enhanced hearing skill, a rapid heartbeat of a small bird crying for help, and a machine ticking like a bomb.

The Parademons! she thought. They must be hiding in the thick bushes stealing eggs from poor birds or they are planting a bomb.

She jumped in the air with a single leap and landed inside the thick bushes. Amongst the trees, she followed the direction of the chirping sound, another leap, and she landed in the front of the oak tree.

Beneath it, a small girl, with her jaw wide open looking at Diana with a small bird in her hand.

Diana's eyes eased looking at the small girl. she examined her close, who must be around 10 years old with braces in teeth. The unusual thing about her is there is a wire coming out from her heart and goes to her backpack.

Diana stared at it for more than a second, soon the small girl explained, "That is TAH, 70cc temporary Total Artificial Heart. It keeps me alive until I get a suitable donor."

Diana pushed the air from her stomach and excused, "Of Course! I am sorry. Who are you, sweetheart? What are you doing here?"

The little girl explained, "I am Merlin, I want to put this bird back into that nest"

Diana can see the bird in Merlin's small palm. The Bird is taped with her stationary cloth to stop the bleeding.

Diana lowered herself to coming face to face with Merlin, "Hi Merlin, I am Diana. Are you okay, sweety? What happened to her?" petting the wounded bird smoothly on the head.

Merlin narrated the event in her tender voice, "A Cat attacked her. It tried to eat it, I chased it away. I know Egrets only build nests in oak trees. I found the nest but her mother went somewhere" pointing to the one on top of the tree and she resumed in her naive tone, "we couldn't reach it."

Diana can see the bruise on her knees and elbows which must have come from her attempts to climb the tree.

Diana looked into Merlin's eyes, "Would you mind if I try?"

Merlin handed the weeping bird to Diana's hand. "You better be careful with her, she is small and weak"

Diana curved her lips with a peaceful smile, she made a straight jump to the top branch and slipped easily to the edge and dropped the bird to the nest. Within a blink of an eye, she is back in front of Merlin reflecting her warm smile.

Merlin rolled her eyes in awe.

Diana stretched her arm to merlin, "Now, Let's find your mother? Where is she?"

They reached the road and Diana asked for directions, Merlin pointed towards the city.

"My Mom is in the parlor. From the waiting room, I saw the cat with Egret in its mouth"

Diana kept her close as they walked fast back to the city, "Your mother must be worried, we'd better hurry"

As they reached the entrance of the city Merlin asked her, "Diana, are you magic?"

Diana looked down at her light brown eyes and nodded, "I don't know"

But Merlin kept looking at her for an answer.

Diana shared, "I am not sure what..or who...I am. I am still figuring out. Hey! Please don't tell anybody what you saw, okay?"

Merlin shows thumbs up, "Deal and you shouldn't tell my mother what you saw. Tell her you found me sketching in the parking lot."

They reached the parlor but Merlin's mother has already gone in search of her. The employees ringed Merlin's mother to come back and asked Diana to watch over the kid meantime.

They sat in the visitor's stools. Merlin opened her backpack, took out her drawing pad, and sketches.

"Are you coming to the game? My Dad is playing today. They show me and my mom on television whenever he scores. That's why we are here. My mom wants to do pedicure, manicure, facial...", the Masseuse and hairstylist started laughing overhearing her kiddish remarks.

Diana pointing her drawing pad and asked, "What's that?"

Merlin excitedly, "That is Black, my doggie," showing her an almost dog-like painting.

She swiped and explained her other paintings, her dad with a rugby ball - now Diana knows why she asked her about the game, She is wearing the team's jersey without even knowing it.

Then a self-portrait of Merlin herself with a big heart attached to her back, her mom in the phone, Ellen DeGeneres in the chair,

Merlin stopped at a picture, "Look at this! My Favourite" she exclaimed proudly. Diana has no idea what it is. She felt too dumb to ask, "What it is? Who are they?"

Merlin surprised. But without judging her, she explained, "Justice League" the quacky portrait of the justice league has Superman in the middle, Cyborg, Green Lantern, Flash, Supergirl, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman. All of the A-squad.

She swiped the next picture, a black figure in the cape. A horrible pencil work of shade and lines. Diana embarrassingly asked, "Who is that?"

Merlin whispered, "Batman" Diana giggled hard for a second but tried to cover it up. So this is how kids see Batman, she thought to herself.

Then the last page was a half-completed portrait. A-line and a circle with some curves on the head pretending to be hair. Diana curiously asked, "What is THAT!"

Merlin closed the tab. "I am not supposed to show you that!" she kept back her pad inside the bag.

Diana begged her playfully but still no response. Merlin was adamant not to reveal.

Soon Merlin's mother dashed in and flushed looking at her daughter safe.

She thanked Diana and Parlour girls. They seemed to be in a hurry and Merlin's mother explained that they are late to fill the VIP seat and left shortly exchanging handshakes.

Diana was again on her way back to Manor but only this time the road was full. A parade is going for Gotham Rouge towards the stadium. Everyone on the road is wearing the Gotham Rouge T-shirt similar to Diana's. They kept cheering and included her in their celebration as she tried to walk past them.

They chanted and showed signs to her. Diana never thought she could mingle with that ease on the first day itself. She got stuck in the middle of the parade and tried to chant with them,

"Go! Gotham Go! We are rouge! Go! Gotham Go! We are rouge!"  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Wayne Manor.

Bruce Wayne, clad only in tight solid trunks, makes a juice out of spinach, fruit, and powders of chia seeds along with black pepper.

Finishing his drink, he stands in front of the mirror attached to an acrylic bathroom sink to observe his 3 days old facial hair. The stand has a Proraso shaving cream tube and Gillette fusion pro glide.

He takes the shaving brush from the drip stand and wets the brush with hot water filled in an ivory shaving bowl. The bristles start to swell to hold the soap better.

Bruce takes a blue lather bowl and fills its bottom with the shaving cream. He swirls the cream with the brush and produces an extremely fine, thick, and creamy soap.

He gently caresses his face with the brush using circular movements. The Eucalyptus, menthol, and glycerine in the cream give a refreshing and tingly sensation to his skin.

Bruce energetically massages and lathers his beard and mustache line.

Taking his Gillette, he softly strokes the face allowing the razor to do its work. The cream slips thickly with his facial hair.

He rinses his blade in running water and continues to stroke. He drags his skin gently to shave against his grains then flipped his razor over to let the single blade whip the hard place near his ear and back of his jawline.

Whipping the remaining cream with a turkey towel he applied his aftershave lotion to add a coolant effect.

He pours Colgate Plax antiplaque formula and swishes it around his mouth and then he squeezed Theodent 300 over manual B pro 6000 electronic toothpaste; rinsing with Listerine and he spits it out.

Putting the nail brush back, he takes the ice-pack off and uses a charcoal cleanser lotion to scrub his face.

Now the mirror shows him 'Bruce Wayne'

Bruce Wayne, the Idea. Women want to be with him and men want to be him.

Bruce strips his last piece of cloth and enters the shower.

He uses a Neutrogena hydro boost cleanser to remove impurities then a body shop's almond milk body scrub to gently buff away leaving the skin feeling soft.

On the face, Tom Ford exfoliating gel scrub.

Washing his hair with Philip B Russian Amber Imperial shampoo, he directs his hand to clean the body part that men arguably value the most. His penis. He pulled the foreskin back and washed it gently in the running water. He sprays hygiene wash gel and rubs it out. Rinsing it with the shower gives his genitals a refreshing boost. He continues to clean the underside and the testicles the same way.

Coming fresh from the bath, his Jet black hair is still thick and his body is gleaming from the water; he pours a drop of relief eyewash in both eyes.

He puts on his micro low-rise trunk while solid black casual blazer, a blue plain shirt, and slim-fit black jeans laid on his bed.

With Ray ban 3342 on, he takes out his matte black Mercedes McLaren SLR from the hangar and dashes into Gotham.  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Wayne Tower.

Wayne tower operates in odd hours. It runs two-shift 24/7. The Morning shift is from 7.30 to 16.00. The reason for this odd hour is that employees of Wayne tower can evade the prime hour traffic which is usually after 08.30 and 18.00 by late.

Bruce Wayne goes through security check-ups like other employees. As he enters in, Ms. Iris runs coming towards him. The Shoot is scheduled at 8 and the crew is already waiting at reception.

He can see Reporter Vicki Vale, a camera person, two assistants with their equipment stopped at reception.

Bruce wishes his secretary, "Good Morning, Iris". Iris gets his laptop and leather bag.

Bruce walks to the reception and addresses the shoot crew. The receptionist gets from her desk as a sign of respect.

Bruce apologizes straight to the crew, "Sorry for making you guys wait. It is a game day. Never knew it was. I guess everyone is facing the same problem"

Vicki vale holding her composer, "It is okay, Mr. Wayne. You are still 10 mins early"

Bruce shows off his smile as a reply.

Iris interrupted, "Mr. Wayne, Can I get a coffee or drink for you?" shedding a smile to the annoyance of Vickie in between.

Iris is so attentive to her boss.

She then turns to the crew and continues with an authoritative tone, "Mr. Wayne is here, You and your guys can enter his premise to set up"

Vicki comes up with a suggestion, "Ms. Iris, We thought it would be better if we can set up here in reception to shoot our interview. The boardroom or CEO desk is too cliched."

Bruce nods as he agrees. But Iris insists, "No way. Mr. Wayne is CEO, he can't be seen in the reception. That will be a headline tomorrow." again in a strict tone.

Bruce interrupts, "It's fine. I think it is a good idea" and walks away to his room, "Call me when you guys need me"

Vicki asks her crew to set up. The dragon chairs are moved in the middle foreshadowing the antique Building Directory. Vicki brushes her hair and makeup. The Employees of Wayne tower are starting to arrive and a few of them stopped at reception to glance at the crew setting up and beautiful Vicki Vale in her trademark pencil skirt costume.

Bruce laid back on his desk and opened his laptop to donate a million-dollar amount to the 'Let's rebuild Gotham Police Department' campaign but suddenly his communication is disrupted in the middle of the transaction.

Wifi bars zeroed down. Annoyed by the communication blackout he kept pressing F5 but still gets the same response.

Checking closely he finds out there is no cellular signal, no radio waves, or Wifi of any frequency is happening within his building.

His detective mind kicks in and tells him that something is jamming all signals irrespective of the frequency and bandwidth.

Bruce gets from his seat and peeks outside the window. The busy metropolitan city in his view has 6 signal towers. All are just equipped with antennas and power. Two of them are Lattice Towers and one Monopole Tower and the rest are Stealth Tower. Nothing is big enough to equip a jammer.

He puts his head out of the window and turns his body to look at 90 degrees straight in the air. The tip of the building is Wayne tower. One of the most advanced DAS with an attached radio telescope and a utility pole in the world.

The door unlocks. Iris cries out looking at Bruce with half his body outside.

Bruce quickly pulls in, "Nothing I just wanna see…the pigeons" he excused and tucks his shirt properly.

Iris informs, "We are ready to go"  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Gotham Nuclear power plant.

Saverine has knocked everyone on his way to the core room having 1,000-megawatt reactors. He disabled the emergency core cooling system. Without it, nothing can stop the core from overheating and thus the disaster.

He proceeded to the control room and increased the temperature of the reactor.

Consequently in turn creating positive void coefficient factors that will accelerate the nuclear chain reaction.

The uncontrollable power surge skyrocketed the pressure inside the reactor. In the pressure gauge, the values start to double but the siren is broken which will alert everyone to leave the site.

The power plant which generated safe energy to the city is now a triggered nuclear time bomb.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Wayne Tower.

Vicki Vale briefs before the camera, "Good Morning, Gotham. It is wonderful to be back in the episode of 'The Business talks'. Today we have Mr. Bruce Wayne with us here in headquarters Wayne Tower, Gotham."

She greets, "Good Morning Mr. Wayne. Thanks for meeting us in your busy schedule."

Bruce receives her with delight, "Good Morning Ms. Vicki Vale. It is my pleasure."

Vicki points out her watch, "It is just 8 here and I can see your office is full and functioning. Why did you pick this odd hour of work time from 7.30 to 4?"

Bruce rationalizes as the camera pans to his profile, "On average, an American spends 19 full workdays a year stuck in traffic on their commute. That is 35 minutes each working day. It is because most of us follow the business hour routine of 9 to 5. We tried to break that system. So our employees can save their time and converse energy."

Vicki applauds, "That is very thoughtful. Moving on, Now it is almost a year since you took over as a CEO. How has your job affected your lifestyle? You still go to the parties?"

Bruce does a naughty nod, "What do you think I do after 4?" everyone around chuckles at his remarks.

He then calms and explains, "Yes. In a couple of months, I'll be a year old CEO. This is the only sort of job I ever had. I keep learning every day. Not that I miss hanging out or late-night parties but this job has given me more than I asked for. I employ 4500 people. It is a responsibility. So, yeah this job has affected me in more than one way but in a good sense."

Vicki points out, "When you took over, you fired a lot of senior leaders. You wiped the entire board who ran this office with your father. Now, they have filed a case against you stating that you are 'inexperienced to handle a company, and Wayne towers run up large debts due to your profligate spending, extravagant lifestyle, and failure to control the managers. The Company is under the risk of going into insolvency' How do you respond to that?"

Bruce straight away, "Nothing. But this, Wayne Enterprise is solid. Those accusations have no claims. People you mentioned exploited this Company. They ate Gotham's wealth. Those are the shareholders' money. Tell them Bruce said it is not over and he is coming for everything"

Vicki again digs, "But Mr. Wayne the accusations seem solid too. Business Week magazine detailed your proximity to politicians, your enmity with Silicon valley tech's Fanning brothers, the exposes by the American Reader and Russel J Silva about illegal imports by the Wayne Enterprise and overseas share transactions by Middle East companies, and the botched attempt to acquire Lex Corps, Metropolis."

Bruce can feel the heat in the question. Vickie sure has done her homework.

Bruce shreds a smirk, "It's all true, Ms. Vale. The Author has exposed everything right except Darth Vader is the father of Luke. I am waiting for the sequel."

The Entire crew along with Iris burst out in laughter. Vicki takes her first insult and continues, "I take that as you being sarcastic."

Bruce smirks and replies, "No. I am serious. Business Week should sell it to Hollywood."

Vicki keeps digging him, "The lawsuit filed against you claims Wayne Enterprise issued fake shares. You switched shares sent for transfer by buyers to make illegal profits. The company has indulged in insider trading in shares. Attempted to monopolize the private telecom services market through front companies. Today the majority of the city is using Wayne communications, which is not the only telecom in the market."

Bruce shifts to a serious tone, "Only we, Wayne enterprise thought this through and provided uninterpreted 5G+ networks especially for Gotham. It alerts the proximity of risk in your daily travel and other places for women, for kids, for visually challenged people. Idea is to make a safe commute through 5G. It is one of a kind and we provided it for free, irrespective of market capitalization. The people of Gotham loved it and that's why they bought it. We didn't patent it, our competitors are open for improvisation."

Vicki without even listening to his answer, "Mr. Wayne you have also been accused of breaching Union laws. Most of your workers have reported working overtime. They have marked Unhappy in their employment status and 73% of your employees have marked they are going through some kind of depression from their workplace; Three weeks before Mrs. Miranda White, one of your associates, killed herself by jumping from the 45th floor in her apartment."

Bruce shortly comes back in fury, "Mrs. Wales was sedated by one of the Crane's henchmen. You better read some newspaper, Ms. Vales, before you threw some irrelevant questions"

The last remark embarrassed Vickie a lot. That too in front of her crew she can't lose a fight. "Labour Exploitation in Wayne Enterprises has been proven more than a dozen times." She shows the Published Newspapers copies on her iPad.

Bruce, "Ms. Vale, I am a Sixth generation Businessman. The eight-hour workday or 40-hour week movement was created during the industrial revolution in Britain as an effort to cut down on the number of hours of physically intense manual labor that workers were forced to endure on the factory floor.

Wayne is not that. We are a Millenial big tech company. We design, we develop, and we sell ideas and lifestyles. We employ "best-in-class" for every role. Creativity and imagination is a 24/7 business. We have a high level of brand loyalty. Each and everyone in Wayne Tower has the responsibility to ensure it's seamless functionality to meet our customer's and client's demand."

Vickie is exactly waiting for this answer, "But, it seems you are an exception. The CEO has a total of in-time 15 hours during the last month of June-July, while an associate spends 17 hours on average per day. You are not even in the field Mr. Wayne. The Privilege…."

"Cut...Cut...Cut..." a voice commanded them.

Annoyed Vickie Vale turned to the cameraman, "What?".

The kid behind the camera tells her, "Ingest is blocked."

Vickie goes, "What?"

Bruce eases, "What Happened?"

He explains, "The Satellite is not receiving our data, Mr. Wayne. The Telecast has stopped. We can't go LIVE. I was recording on my Memory card for some time, 256 GB and it is over."

Vickie smiles embarrassingly. Her Interview is hanging in the air.

Bruce asks them, "You guys need something from us to back up?"

Vickie looks at the cameraman. He goes, "I anticipated this before the start of the interview, but I was refused a Thumb drive through which I can dump the existing footages to my laptop."

Bruce shifts his look to Iris standing nearby, he announces, "This is a technology company. I am sure we have a thumb drive somewhere."

Iris excuses them and moves to the Receptionist girl. "Can you send somebody off and get a Thumb drive?"

Bruce shouts, "What?" which completely puts the Receptionist and Iris in terror. He continues, "There are 4500 people in this tower, nobody carries Thumb drive?"

Iris explains, "We checked. Tower rule prohibits the use of external disks for data security and all our computers are incompatible with third-party hardware. People use networks and share..."

Meantime Receptionist opens a draw and finds the PVC zipper bag that has Steve Trevor's Pendrive.

She points it to Iris. Iris goes, "Well, we have one in reception" She takes the Pendrive from the bag and passes it to the camera kid.

The Camera kid connects it to his Cyborg skinned Laptop. He gives an estranged look connecting it. "It is all coded and locked with level 4 ozone. I can't open it. We need a legit password or somebody has to breach it."

Vickie and Iris irk at the same time. Bruce is done with this drama. Inwardly, he knows he can open it. But should he?

He looks at Vale, maybe time to prove to her what his 15 hours of knowledge and time are worth.

Bruce asks, "Give it here" for the laptop.

In the first fifteen seconds, he bypassed the security wall. Before he changes the format he opens the disk to estimate the space. Level 4 is a hacker's nightmare. Bruce dumps the system with overstimulated operations. Creates a basic loop and freezes the core from performing basic functionality.

Next step, he attacks the CVE - 2020 -1420 a remote memory vulnerability. It remotely activates the external storage memory to perform the basic task and opens the thumb drive on this process.

Bruce announces "Done" before renaming the thumb drive to format it. He abruptly stops reading the name given to drive - 'Melody of Seas'  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Batcave.

Diana can see from far Alfred is working on his computer with a cup of tea near his desk.

Alfred senses her presence while still working on the Keraía, "Yes. Your Highness" he attends her without lifting his head from the computer, his hand still typing the last bit of codes.

She puts out a silly smile and begs him, "Call me Diana, Alfred. Is there anything I can help you with" with the spirit of a new kid in school.

He stopped his keyboard butchering and noticed Diana. He tried his best to keep her close.

Alfred tells her, "Master Bruce has left a card for you, you can use it for shopping. Take any car you want"

Instead of reacting to it, Diana takes out a cloth bag in her hand, pulls out something, and spreads the relaxed Exo-suit over the table.

Alfred is amazed to see his creation right in front of him in one piece. He takes the suit in hand to examine it.

The top suit has no scratches. It looks exactly the way he gave it to her, "Good!".

The helmet has worn out, that must be a hard assault. At least the helmet shielded her from influence.

He looks at the bottom and finds the stitches are pressured in the rear area and the kneecap of one end has given up.

He lectures her, "I can see that you enjoyed your trail. Now, we can add more characters to this suit. You'll be wearing it for an awful lot of time like your second skin. Let's work on knee joints and customize here and there on overall core design, we can leave the arms open if you want, we can add color… Diana?"

He can see Diana is sunk into deep thought.

Diana comes back to tell him, "Alfred, I have this blueprint..."  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Wayne Tower.

Bruce rushingly gets from his seat and buttons up the suit. He informs them fast, "Ms. Vale, I am afraid the interview is over. Email Iris to reschedule it" his attitude hits Vicki on the face.

Vickie pleads, "What happened Mr. Wayne? We didn't mean to offend you. We have a good set of questions at the end if you want to take a look at it.." trying to show her tab to him.

Bruce steps away from her, "Ms. Vale, You didn't insult me. You insulted my business. Wayne's legacy. You are shaming one of the prestigious American corporations. You mocked our free-thinking and our vision of capitalism."

Vickie goes pale. Change in Bruce's tone and behavior is questioning her ability as a leading reporter to understand the people and the consequence of her approach to them. His unpredictability is something she never came across.

She tries to confront him, "Mr. Wayne. Please, we have to finish the interview. You haven't answered my questions."

Bruce, "Exactly, I am not going to answer your question. You know what will happen to this city if we stopped working for a day. You know?...huh... I'll show you"

He calls, "Iris!"

His secretary comes running towards him, he turns to her and orders "Tell everyone to go home"

Iris has no idea what she heard. Is he serious?

Bruce exclaims, "Tell them to go home and stay with their families. Inform their salaries are safe, Email them immediately- if they go home and post selfies with their families, Wayne Enterprise will give them a thousand dollar as a holiday bonus"

Iris goes, "What? Mr. Wayne Schools, Colleges, the City. I think…"

Bruce turns to her, "Iris, today is a Gameday. Tell them all to go home. Stop their families from going out. Stay indoor. Enjoy the game. Post a selfie from hour to hour with #Stayed home #Family time #Wayne Enterprises, they will get 1000 dollars for every selfie they upload."

Iris' head starts to spin. Vickie tries to stop him to tell him that will put the entire city at a halt. But Bruce kept walking to his room, "don't forget the hashtags"  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Bruce connects the thumb drive to his computer. The Wayne tower employees are asked to leave. Some of them are still apprehensive. They are forced out. People are calling their families asking them to stay at home to watch the game.

Iris opens the door to inform, "Can I bring something for you to eat?"

Bruce without taking his eyes away from the laptop, "Go home Iris, you don't want your holiday bonus?"

Iris with a smirk locks the door back and takes her things to leave.

The entire tower is evacuated in fifteen minutes. The Securities are also asked to leave. The foremen, cleaners, and parking valets all returned to their respective dorms and quarters.

Bruce is the only person in the office, he locked himself in the room and overrides the code to restore the connectivity.

He manually climbed the tower and fixed the communication.

He calls Alfred via his smartwatch. "Alfred, do you copy? Code RED."

Alfred reacts upset and shocked, "oh..What?"

Alfred is in the middle of designing something artful and this call comes. He goes again, "Well, from whom this time?"

Bruce, "Intergang. Steve Trevor aka Brown has left a thumb drive at reception. He is calling us for a dog fight."

Alfred, "What does that state? his plans?" what a stupid!

Bruce, "No. He has hacked the router and jammed the signal in the building. He made a communication blackout."

Alfred, "Wayne tower?"

Bruce, "I made some arrangements, don't worry about Wayne tower. It is just me here now. We need to call the league in."

Alfred, "Sure, you know about the Game, Lincoln stadium? Nuclear Power plant?"

Bruce, "Yes. He picked today because of the game. The attention will be wider and the power plant can be a distraction. We can't contain the radiation once it is leaked."

Alfred, "Masterplan!"

Bruce, "Steve Trevor will penetrate his intergang among Gotham's public. We still have some time. We are going to stop him. I am going to stop him" as he opens the top layer of the office desk, the bat suit glows in his eyes.

Alfred sends a Distress signal to the Watchtower.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Gotham Metro station.

Steve Trevor and his men entered the Gotham Metro passing the security check-up. They disintegrated their guns into small pieces, once entering their premise they will complete their weapons and take everyone in their sight.

But the Station is barely covered with people. To his surprise, he checks at the time in the wall clock, it is 10 and there are only a handful of people there.

He stops his men from uncovering their weapons and signals them to hold.

A not-so-crowded-train passes shortly, then what is left in the station is just him and his men.

He goes to the counter to inquire and instead finds an empty seat. The Station looked abandoned.

He orders, "Check with others"

The entire city is unusually relaxed and free. The Malls, theatres and financial streets are near empty except for some employees and homeless.

The traffic is lower than it's recorded on the road. Steve Trevor figured out the City is in some kind of lockdown.

Television at the station plays the happening news world around. It shortly puts the News,

"Gotham's controversial Billionaire Bruce Wayne sends all his employees off to home today early this morning. The employees will be rewarded thousands of dollars for hours if they stay home with their family and watch the most anticipated game of the year Gotham Rogue vs Arkham Sharks. All they have to do is post a selfie with their family under the #Stayed home #Family time #Wayne Enterprise. As a result of his offer, the city with a population of approximately 10 million people is mostly staying at home before their television..."

Steve Trevor grinds his teeth. He orders, "Inform Bronze Tiger. Start with Gotham General Hospital."  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Wayne Manor.

As Alfred insisted, Diana left him alone in the Batcave. She walked passed the Wayne manor enjoying the weather of Mid-day. Her eyes fall on the glassy Vista where Bruce stays. With small hesitation, she entered the Vista.

The first thing she saw was the luxury cars assembled on the ground floor. She lost count after two rows.

The Vista is the pinnacle of modern architecture with all marbles and glasses. She slowly climbed the curved stairs leading to the first floor, where she heard a television sound.

The Insane 292-Inch Wall TV in the hall is playing Spongebob Squarepants. As she walks ahead she can see somebody has occupied the front cushion sofa facing the television.

It is Gareth. He filled the sofa and watched the television in awe. The snacks are everywhere: 2-4-1 cheesy dippers, jalapeño popper chicken dippers, chocolate chip cookie dough truffles, cheeseburger mozzarella sticks, fried lasagna poppers, pan banana bread cheesecake, and a strawberry milkshake.

Gareth's eyes remain unmoved from the television and his mouth is filled from time to time.

Diana calls him, "Gareth?"

Gareth slowly moves his eyes from the television to see Diana standing next to his sofa.

"Amazon princess, your highness" he bows with humbleness and asks her, "Would you like to eat something?"

Diana denies "No thanks."

Gareth returns his eyes to the television.

Curiously Diana asks him, "What are you watching?"

Gareth sincerely explains, "History. Humans have made it into moving pictures. See..." he points at the Spongebob.

"My dad used to tell me about the legend that ruled us and men's outside world together. I never believed him. But it's all true. Look at that yellow sponge. It is him. Poseidon. God of Atlantis. That starfish is Tynan the Balancer, the squid is Deedra and the crab is Mara. It is all real."

Diana looks at the Spongebob and Patrick walking in silly shorts, "I think it is some kind of kid's show"

Gareth warns her, "No. It is history, Highness. Men have made history easier for their kids to understand. Back in Atlanta, we are still using scrolls." He puts his hands together and prays to Spongebob. "Poseidon, give me strength and courage to save Atlanta from the dark"

Diana, pulled in by the television, sits next to him and watches it with a serious gesture.

The SpongeBob and Patrick end up in the scary sea town of Rock Bottom.  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Gotham General Hospital.

Bronze Tiger and his men's ambulance reached the hospital. They hid their gun parts inside their doctor's coat, trenches. and nurse uniforms. Bronze Tiger noted it is unusual for Gotham to be this free at this hour of the day.

Once, they passed through security systems Bronze Tiger headed to the bathroom to assemble his powerful weapon. He looked at his men and ordered them, "Be ruthless!"

They opened the bathroom door and entered outside of the hall. The Lights went off and darkness ensued them.

His inexperienced men panicked a little to feel the darkness in the broad day.

Bronze Tiger order, "Attack"

He heard "Okay" from a different voice.

The next thing he knows is he is bashed straight on his face.

The Light comes back.

It is Batman. It is just him and the Intergang in a narrow hallway.

They raised their weapon to fire. Batman tactically escaped their fire. He throws batarangs back to disable their weapon. Thanks to the study he got from Keraía, now he learned how to electronically disable that thing.

Bronze Tiger unleashed himself with his claw. Batman stabbed the tiger's claws into the wooden door and used that space to destroy Bronze Tiger's face through deadly blows. Making him stuck there, Batman went on to fight hand to hand combat with four of Intergang.

The hospital wall echoed with the sound breaking their bones.

He takes one of their guns and turns it to the tail end.

6 more to go. He gets in the center, as they take out their knives. He rotates it precisely so that the heavy grip of the gun breaks the gang's nose, throat, and ears at unbelievable speed.

Every Intergang member in the room is bleeding now.

He uses his grapple gun to tie them all in one place.

Batman hears the police siren, he rushes to Bronze Tiger.

Bronze Tiger pulls Batman to the floor. Receiving a knock Batman gets up and takes a stance for the third round.

Gordon and his men entered the hospital.

Batman jumps back escaping all the lethal attacks of Bronze Tiger. He stands in front of the wall and provokes him, "come on! Show me what you got"

Bronze Tiger jumps at him, Batman slips away. The Claws penetrate the wall and he gets electrocuted from the wire through the X-ray room. The Iron claw is conducting electricity as he goes numb. The last thing he saw is Commissioner Gordon with a gun pointed to his head.  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Hallway Mall, Gotham.

Iris on her way back stopped at the departmental store inside the Mall. She with her loaded trolley pulled things from digital sections. She takes a pair of 120 GB thumb drives and a dozen 8 GB pen drives.

With a glass breaking sound, Iris dropped her things and rushed to check things at the counter.

The old lady by the counter with her head on her ground tells Iris to do the same.

They heard gunshots back to back. Iris picks the lady from the ground and tells her to hide deep inside.

She pulls her head outside the store to see some of the store employees are held at gunpoint.

She can see a police officer in the scene facing away from her. She runs to him on her toes.

She calls at him, "Officer" the guy turned back has an advanced gun in his hand. He aims it at her and takes a shot.

Iris uses her reflex and misses the shot hiding behind the elevator. She realizes these men are in disguise and shouldn't have left the store.

The guy rushes to her and aims the gun at her. She kicks him in the balls using their close proximity and makes him collapse.

As she ran away from him, she could see 10 -12 people with that advanced gun in their hands unleashing terror across the mall.

She soon hides behind the pillar. The Store opposite her is a kid's toy store. Through the glass reflection, she can see another guy with a gun following her to the kid's store.

She can see small faces hiding behind the counter. She has to distract him from coming forward and spotting these innocent kids.

She reveals herself from the pillar and starts to run in the opposite direction.

The guy takes an aim to fire, Iris stumbles and slips on the floor.

She can see all of those men with guns from her position, she is in a direct aim to many of them.

Iris closes her eyes counting her last breath.

Suddenly, a swoosh in the air. Her hair messed and clothes raised and fell. She opens her eyes to witness a red blur striking the terrorist one by one in the blink of an eye.

The guys are there one moment wondering what is happening and then they are gone.

Iris picks her from the floor, the guy near the kid store shoots at her.

The next moment, she was pulled away from the bullet.

A red flash of light that's all she can explain what she saw. The blur launches to strike the last guy.

Flash stops after striking the last guy to the floor. He turns to check on Iris who lifts herself again from the impact.

Flash rounds the mall in a blur. All men are tied together in a tightrope their guns seized away.

Flash stops by Iris and checks her, "Mam, are you okay?"

Starstruck Iris tried to sound okay, "Ye...p thanks"

Flash with hand on his hips, "Don't mention. Can you do me a favor? It is not safe outside, accumulate everyone, and stay in one place. make sure no leaves the mall until you guys are called out."

Iris goes, "Yeah, yeah...sure"

Flash asks with a smirk, "Mam, may I know your name? You know, to give a signal when it is safe to come outside"

She put up her professional face, "Iris West" with her messed hair.

Flash waves his hand, "Nice meeting you, Iris. Take care" and blurs out.

Iris stood there trying to receive what happened.

The City is alerted about the invaded terrorists and the roads are locked.

Cyborg made frequent announcements by jamming cell phones, television, and radio signals to the people of Gotham. The Initial panic though was high, the people were promised the protection of Justice league in the follow-ups.

They were asked to stay right where they are, keep their GPS enabled, and send distress signals if they are in danger.  
  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Wayne Manor.

The Spongebob show is interrupted with the message from Cyborg.

It took some time for Gareth and Diana to realize what is happening with the television. As soon as they heard the word Gotham, they rushed to Batcave seeking Alfred.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Gotham City.

Zatanna and Cyborg helped the schools and university students to evacuate from their campus.

Atom shrinks and slides himself inside the advanced gun of the Intergang and disables it. Then he blows to the regular size to the beat the shit out of them

Zatanna created a shield around the civilians protecting them from the gunshots and once their rounds of shot are over she changes their guns into flower vases.

Scared by the involvement of the Justice League, some Intergang members in the active part of the field dropped their guns and surrendered.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Wayne Manor.

Alfred asks him again, "Master Gareth, you sure you want to do this way. Master Bruce wants you to stay from this."

Gareth removed his oversized T-shirt, "I can't Alfred. I just lost my home. I can't sit and watch when it happens again."

They are on the backside of the Wayne manor. Gareth self-tasked to attend the nuclear power plant after hearing it from Alfred.

Alfred, "I understand but you need some help to stop the reaction."

Gareth, "You just said that power plant explosions can affect millions of lives for hundreds of years. I understand I need to cool the reactor. Will salt water work?"

Alfred looks at him, "Yes it will, but how you propose to do it. We need gallons of water. Tons of them. You can't do it alone."

Gareth standing at the edge of the lake, "Don't worry. I have help. Hey! Can I have a squid for lunch"

Alfred, "We are fresh out of squid!" picking up the Shirt Gareth threw.

Gareth, "I'll catch them on my way back."

Alfred, "Master Gareth, this is not a game."

Gareth, "I know, I have to just flood the place." and he jumps into the lake.

The Water splashes on Alfred's face before he finishes, "And some Shrimps, if possible"  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Financial street.

Batman on his Batpod launches way fast on the street. He identifies the Courier van carrying another set of Intergang which is on its way to the financial street.

He races it ahead and skids the vehicle before the driver's field of view. The driver presses hard on the accelerator speeding it up.

Instead of coming face to face, Batman cut across a circle around the van. As he did, he leaked the oil in the middle of the road from his batpod. As soon as the Van enters the circle the oil is ignited and a perimeter of the fire is formed around.

The Driver notices through the rear mirror, Batman has poked a hole in the van's fuel tank when he crossed the vehicle. If they tried to cross the fire, the van would explode. He stepped on the brake, stopping the vehicle with a 360 skid.

The Gang jumps from the van with their weapon and looks at the perimeter of wildfire around. Soon, their guns are disabled with Batarang.

The National defense force helicopter from the top orders them to drop the weapons and lay on the floor.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Batcave

Alfred coordinates with Cyborg helping him track down the places where Intergang has penetrated. While he was busy doing that, Diana behind him watched the television coverage from Lincoln stadium. The full house stadium is filled with 60,000 civilians. They are held there with the safety of the national defense force. Evacuating them all at once will cause a lot of law and order problems.

Alfred brief Batman, "We are getting an incoming from the Wayne Tower. Steve Trevor and his men are in Wayne tower"

Diana turns her head to the name Steve Trevor.

Right then, in television the screaming sound of the crowd increases.

The stadium atmosphere has gone chaotic. She can't see everything on the television.

The national defense force chopper from the sky falls to the ground and blasts into pieces.

Intergang has captured the Lincoln stadium. The shaky camera right then shows a face scared little girl weeping for her life, Diana identifies Merlin.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Wayne Tower.

Steve and his men statistically placed them in the middle of the tower, making it hard for both the Justice League and NDF to attack. There is only one man now who can enter this deep in Wayne Tower and Steve can smell his presence in the air.

"Don't be shy, I came all this way for you" he calls out. He has 8 men around him with their advanced gun.

"If you don't show up, I will simply press this button." shows a trigger in his hand. "I like the office renovated. Congratulations! But my men worked on it. Do you know what I did with your building? We just mixed RDX in the cement."

A Batarang splits the air, Steve's men open fire in the air.

In a split second Batman comes out and takes 2 of them down. The bullets scratched his skin leaving him wounded. Batman hides behind the Iron desk and throws the gas bomb.

The smoke covered his trace as he took down another 2 with his fist. He pushes one's jacket top in the elevator and presses the button. It drags the person with it. He throws the next one on steps forcing him to land the floor by the face.

Using this time, Steve injects a needle right into Batman's throat with a syringe shooter. Batman semi-paralyzed instantly.

Steve rages "You burned down my place, you killed my friends." missing the second Batarang and steadying himself, "and you took my girl" like a dragon emitting fire.

Bruce can sense the rush of poison in his system. He is losing his strength. He missed the gunshots with a one-leg flip and plucked the gun from his enemy, turned it, and bashed that guy on his head.

He throws the gun at the last guy with the force that hit him hard on the face and dragged him closer to choke his breath away.

Now it is just Steve and Batman. Steve points the trigger.

"Don't do it" Batman roared. Steve raised his leg to kick Batman on the abdomen.

With the serum already inside, Batman collapsed on the floor.

"I knew it was you, the moment you resisted the drink, Bruce Wayne. So I multiplied the dose 20 times. How do you like it?" Batman picked himself up. He can see 4 Steve Trevor.

"I am not the only one with the secret, Steve Trevor" He ran into the one Steve Trevor from where his voice is coming. Steve jackhammered Batman with his bald head and at the same time kidney punched him. Batman again toiled to keep on his knees.

"I left the thumb drive, knowing you will find it. I want you to find it. I want you to fight" another kick in the chest. Batman is thrown backward breaking the glass door of the Boardroom.

"I want you to try and fail. You think you are smart ah? Justice League can't save all. The Stadium is in our control and so Gotham Nuclear power plant." he choked Batman, lifted him high, and dropped him on the table. The Table legs crack from the impact and drop to floor level.

"Both will be gone in the next 2 minutes. You failed as a Batman." kicks him hard on the skull with his boots

"Now you will fail as a Bruce Wayne. She has to know she left me for a loser". He opened the trigger and his thumb inches above the button.

"This is suicide. You will burn with me." Batman spilled these words with great pain.

"Not when you are already dead." Steve lowered his thumb but stopped halfway.

The Building is rattling on whole. The things surrounding are vibrating. He heard mega flocks in the air and it approached them fast.

"What did you do?" He lifted Batman from the floor and asked him close.

Batman gets to have the last laugh, "I kissed her, loser"

Massive flocks of Bats came breaking the glasses in all directions and flooded the building.

"Nice pants!" Batman points to the special sonar echolocator he just attached to Steve's pants.

Millions of Bats wrapped Steve from all directions detecting sonar. Steve screamed in pain as the Bats hurt him below the belt.

"You entered the wrong neighborhood" Batman launched his grappling gun to grab the trigger for Bomb.

Steve broke the glass fence in the corridor and slipped to free fall from the 30th floor. Batman launched the grappling gun again to grab his leg and kept him hanging upside down.

Before his vision fades, Batman shares his location with Alfred.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Gotham Nuclear Power Plant.

Saverine looks at the number crossing 16,000 in the pressure gauge. The Whole place is shivering and cracking.

The lid covering the core starts to jump. Gotham Nuclear power plant is seconds away from an explosion.

Saverine closes his eyes and prays to his new god.

He opened his eyes unexpectedly when he felt his shoes getting wet.

The water has logged till his foot. He turns back and walks out of the main room.

The Water keeps coming in and it has now raised to his knee level.

The 7-foot tall figure comes out of the station to see the water has raised till his chest level.

Things in the station are floating in the water.

Saverine swims his way out and all he sees is gigantic waves one after one washing the floor.

The Nuclear power plant is flooded with seawater. Saverine looks at the sight of the miracle that waves keep magnifying in height at every turn.

Finally, the waves reached the height of the GNP tower and washed the power plant in full thrust.

A Mega gallon of water enters the core shutting it down permanently.

Saverine cries in vain. The second wave washes him away from the GNP and gels him with the fence sideways.

The Cars parked in GPD washed away and locked Saverine in the fence unmovable.

The Seawater drains back to the ocean magically.

Gareth jumps from the ocean and investigates the scene.

The Fishes jumped along with him in excitement and jumped on the floor without the water.

Gareth glances at Saverine looking back at him. Saverine is stuck in the fence sideways and piles of cars dashed to his stomach. His leg is stuck somewhere inside the car.

He waves his hand to Gareth for help. Gareth waves his hands back as goodwill and takes the fishes from the floor and jumps back into the ocean.

Saverine can hear the siren noise closing near.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Lincoln stadium.

Intergang has enclosed the Stadium from inside out. There are about 100 of their men inside the stadium itself.

Players are gathered in one place with guns to their heads.

They are waiting for Steve's command to begin the massacre but they are not receiving anything from him.

The spectators are filled with fear and terror held their families and friends close.

Nobody moved and nothing happened for a few minutes.

Then a sonic boom is heard in the sky. A bolt of lightning strikes the ground. The Gang aims at the smoke rising from the ground.

Diana in her half-completed suit shining with her sword. She dodges the first bullet with her bracelet and rotates the sword to the rain of bullets aimed at her. Not one thing dared to touch her.

She screamed and blurred forward.

The Crowd in the stadium witnessed what they will call a marvel in their lifetime. In one round 10 of their men are on the ground with their arms and limbs broken. She leaped to the auditorium and took one by one as Intergang came in. No one was spared.

The Intergang tried to create a hijack situation pointing the gun at players in the dressing room. She thought for a second.

She stopped at her place.

The Guns suddenly pointed to the air, Cyborg.

The Guns in their hands are turned into balloons, Zatanna.

Diana again shifted in a blur and whacked every single intergang member with preciseness. They are on the ground the next moment she passes them.

Cyborg and Zatanna took care of the Intergang members at the other end.

The giant door breaks open with her single kick.

Commissioner Gordon and his team with the National guards entered the ground to evacuate the people from the battlefield.

Army tanks marched in shooting at the Intergang.

Gordon signaled all to the exit door. He shot the Intergang members on his way.

Buses are lined in front of the ground for the extraction of civilians.

Diana, Cyborg, Zatanna, and Gordon came shoulder to shoulder fighting the Intergang.

They broke their circle, each one taking a direction.

The majority of Intergang falls at first strike.

The Intergang uncovered their Bazooka and launched its missile over the innocent civilians.

Diana jumped before and stopped the missile taking a hit.

The next missile is launched towards the tank.

Diana jumps to the tank, opens the lid, and draws the soldiers out in a moment before the missile strikes and the tank explodes.

Intergang aimed Gordon with their missile. The missile launched with a bang reflected in Gordon's glass.

Diana throws her sword and it collides with the missile, carrying it away from Gordon's direction.

Gordon reassures that he is still alive and looks around to see Diana picking up the Army tank over her head and...

The War comes to an end.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: Hi, hope you guys are doing fine. It took a long for me to conceive this chapter. Initially, it was way too long but I got feedback to make it short and crisp. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> on a small note, Ratings are changing from my next chapter. The Story idea can only be fulfilled with 'M' rating. I make sure I'll put warnings at the start. I will try to update regularly.
> 
> Stay Safe, take care.
> 
> Thanks!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Mates, this is my first attempt in fanfiction. Leave your valuable comments. Cheers!


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